Son of the Sannin
by crimsonstain
Summary: After he lost his best friend, his life changed completely. AU ---on extended sabbatical/hiatus till mid-August---
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I'd be the happiest girl in the world, and my parents would want to kill me.

* * *

Chapter 1

MEDIC!" a grey haired man roared, as he rushed holding a bloody bundle in his arms. "I NEED A MEDIC!"

A man stepped forward glanced at the man's bundle before ordering for a gurney and flood of nurses. "Are you alright, Kakashi-san?"

"Fine," the grey haired man answered tersely.

"But there's blood—"

"It's all his," Kakashi interrupted, shaking his head.

The doctor looked at him suspiciously for a second before motioning for him to place the boy gurney that one of the nurses brought. Kakashi watched as they took his students away. Absentmindedly, he sat down in one of the empty chairs in the lobby. Once upon a time, he'd been able to draw a single connecting line from his own Genin team with Rin, Obito, and Minato-sensei and his current team.

Sakura was so much like Rin. She had the potential to become an even better ninja than Rin had ever been if she was guided properly. Naruto reminded him a lot of Obito from his determination to his unrequited crush on his female teammate to the goggles he still kept stuffed in his back pocket. Sasuke had reminded him so much of himself as a child, and not in any of the good ways.

Then the Chuunin Exams came around and the three Sannin influenced his students in ways he'd never thought possible. Naruto had a sense of maturity about him; Sakura suddenly had a new vigor for training and medicine, and Sasuke…Sasukewas off lusting for power in Otogakure by now. Who'd have thought that a few months ago he'd actually had high hopes for the three of them! No one would believe him if he told them that he even had dreams of grandeur for all of them.

In his daydreams about them, Naruto would become the Hokage that he wanted—and he would be greater than even Minato-sensei. Sasuke would rebuild the Uchiha to be loyal to Konoha and her Kage. He'd even defeat his brother. Sakura would become strong, and she would find the love that she wanted whether from Sasuke or Naruto or any other boy that she fancied. The three of them would all be great friends first, and teammates second. They'd become Konoha's next generation of heroes, and he'd have been the one that trained them and instilled in them that loyalty to each other and Konoha.

But now…what a mess…

He'd known as soon as he'd agreed to become a Jounin-sensei that he would be able to deal with losing a Genin, and helping the others with that death, but how was he supposed to deal with losing a Genin to another village? How was he supposed to tell his remaining to Genin how to continue on with their lives when a huge piece of themselves had just walked away from their home because of revenge and lust for power? How was he supposed to look the two of them in the eye, _knowing_ that it was his own fault that their teammate was gone? How was he supposed to _live _with the knowledge that he'd helped the enemy village gain something so precious to the village and two twelve year olds?

"Ah, Hatake-san?" a doctor asked, quietly, breaking him from his reverie.

He jumped out of his seat. "How is he?"

"Well, he'll _live_. He'll have a long recovery time though. He broke through three ribs and one of his legs. He also has a mild concussion, but I'm not too worried about _that._ What I _am _worried about is that the kunai that we pulled—"

"Wait a second, what _kunai_?"

"Er…You didn't know…Well, from what I can gather, first someone knocked Uzumaki-san unconscious after they'd made a whole through his chest. I'm guessing that it was Uzumaki-san's target, Uchiha Sasuke. There was a period of rest where Uzumaki-san's _guest_ started healing his wound. It seems that either that the target, Uchiha Sasuke, or a third party stopped the healing by reopening the wound and then inserting a poisoned kunai.

"It seems that the poison itself is taking over his cells and then using it to attack his very body. It might be a variant of the effect produced when one of the Akimichi's use the Sanshoku no Ganyaku (Three Colored Pills). We still haven't found an antidote. I have sent one of the nurses for Tsunade-sama's for help. I believe she's working on an antidote for Akimichi Chouji-san after he used the Sanshoku no Ganyaku. Hopefully, it will work for Uzumaki Naruto-san."

"Is there anything we can do to help him fight this until then?"

"If we knew what we were dealing with, I would say, yes. But we don't. For now, Uzumaki-san's _guest_ is busy keeping his body from killing itself, and I have some of this hospital's best doctors healing his chest wound. Until Tsunade-same has created an antidote, we've done all we can."

He nodded quietly, and headed for the door. Naruto wasn't truly his student. He hadn't been his student for a while, if he thought about it. The true job of 'sensei' to Naruto was Jiraiya-sama's.

* * *

Jiraiya stared out at the village from his favorite spot—the Hokage Mountain. As a child, he'd used to come there to think, and stare out at the village. When he'd become a Genin, Tsunade used to come up there to tell him how much of an idiot he was for sitting up on top of the mountain alone.

Sarutobi-sensei, when he'd returned to the village for the Chuunin Exams, had told him over a few saucers of sake of how sometimes he'd find Naruto sitting up on the top of the mountain by himself sometimes, or how the gaki would paint graffiti on the faces of the four Hokages. Sarutobi then proceeded to tell him how Naruto had then lead _three_ full ANBU squads and a full Hunter-nin squad all around the village for a day before _finally_ he'd been forced to end the chase by stepping out of his office to capture the boy in a corner of a bathhouse.

He'd had a good laugh over it, and could tell that Sensei had struggled to keep from laughing as well. Naruto was a good kid. He reminded him a lot of himself, though he did have a bit of Minato and Kushina in him.

_With Akatsuki on the move, Naruto will have to be trained in using the Kyuubi. But with so many people who remember the Kyuubi's chakra, it won't be that easy. I'll have to take him with me. _He sighed to himself. Tsunade had gotten attached to the kid. Would she let him go? More importantly, would the brat _want _to leave his home?

From his contacts, he understood that Akatsuki would come after Naruto in three years. Would the kid be willing to leave home, friend, and people to train with him for three years? From what he understood from Sensei, his friends and village were the things he fought for—they were all he truly had…

"Jiraiya-sama?" white-haired Jounin, Hatake Kakashi asked, standing some feet away from him. "The Retrieval Team lead by Nara Shikamaru has returned."

"Yeah, what's that got to do with me?"

"Naruto was in it."

"Hmm. How'd the mission go?"

Kakashi sighed, before sitting beside him. "It was a failure. Akimichi Chouji and Hyuuga Neji are still in critical condition. Inuzuka Kiba and his partner, Akamaru, are injured, but are expected to make a full recovery. Nara Shikamaru received the least amount of injuries—a broken finger."

"And Naruto?"

"Naruto…Someone, though I suspect it was Sasuke, ripped a hole through is chest. As his wound was healing, someone reopened the wound with a poisoned kunai and left it there. That was when I found him and brought him here. There wasn't time to stop for the Med-nins to look after him without stopping."

"Has Tsunade looked at him yet?"

"One of the doctors was going to get her as I was leaving. I thought it would be best if I told you myself, instead of you hearing through the village gossip."

"Thank you, Kakashi."

Kakashi bowed, before he began the laborious climb down. He knew that the Toad Sage would come down in his own time. Personally, he probably wouldn't have left the Hokage Mountain either. He would have stayed there until someone called for him, or he'd finally processed the news. He wasn't even sure that he _had _processed the news that someone would go so far as to attempt to kill Naruto in such a low manner.

But then again, they were shinobi, and they always used tricks to get what they wanted.

* * *

**One Day after the Retrieval Mission**

"SHIT, HURRY UP WITH THOSE SEALS, JIRAIYA!" Tsunade cursed, as she began close wound after wound.

"I'm _working_ on it, Tsunade," Jiraiya snarled from his seat, his brush flying over every part of gauze.

The poison in his student's body had suddenly started reacting by cutting up his body from the inside out. The cuts had started coming out at random, and were mostly shallow, until they started appearing by his tenketsus. Jiraiya _swore _that the cuts were so deep that he could see the boy's bones. So he sent one of the nurses for Tsunade while one Doctor Tojiro attempted to heal him.

Tsunade had then commanded him to begin sealing a roll of bandages, while she tried to help the blonde as much as possible.

"Done!" he shouted. Tsunade didn't even look at him; she simply reached for the bandage. Without stopping, she began wrapping it around the blonde, lifting him and sliding it underneath. As soon as it was done, she pushed chakra into it.

The cuts that had started appearing while she had wrapped the bandages around him, immediately started closing. The seals glowed for a few seconds. Naruto groaned softly his sleep for a second, and then everything was quiet.

"Is he...?"

"For now, he'll be fine. Call me if anything changes. I've got to get back to the antidote."

* * *

**Two Days after the Retrieval Mission**

Jiraiya brushed the soft golden locks of his student away from his face, letting his hand rest on the boy's feverish forehead. He wondered to himself if this was what his son would've looked like as he stared down at the twelve year old boy.

Funny that Naruto would have been born on the same day as his own child had it survived. Without a doubt, he believed that if the child had survived, Tsunade wouldn't have run off like she did. If anything, their child and Naruto would have grown up in the same house as brothers. But, according to the doctors, little Hikaru passed away twenty minutes after being born. Tsunade, still in pain after giving birth, left the village just minutes after Minato had arrived to take his own son to become a Jinchuuriki.

He had stayed and fought alongside the other Konoha shinobi, holding the Nine Tails back while waiting for Minato to arrive. After it was all over, he found that the hospital had been hit, and no one could find the body of the Sannins' dead baby. They were too busy celebrating the destruction of the Kyuubi. That night, he left the village. He'd never thought of returning, but Sarutobi-sensei had told him that little Uzumaki Naruto was someone he'd be interested in meeting.

So he met the brat. Didn't understand at first why sensei would want him to meet the kid, but after he had, he could see that Minato and Kushina's spirit had definitely been passed down to the kid. The same spirit that he once had as a young man…He'd found it endearing, but now, with the kid in the hospital it was _far _from endearing. It was stupid. And most importantly, it nearly killed the kid.

Hopefully, it was keeping him alive.

He bent down and whispered, "Keep fighting, Naruto. Keep fighting and I promise I'll train you to become even greater man than your father could have ever hoped to be."

* * *

**Three Days after the Retrieval Mission**

Doctor Tojiro Daichi had never been out in the field, though he had seen his fair amount of enemy ninja. Living in a ninja village, he had also seen his fair amount of weird things. It was _impossible _not to when you live in the same village as people who could talk to dogs, house bugs in their bodies, or could see at _least _sixty meters around them by the time they were eight. But one of _the _weirdest things he'd ever seen was actually _very _common in other villages—just not this one.

For twelve to thirteen years a child lived by a different identity, different name—_a different life._ In a ninja village, clan, blood, family name, and even first name were among the most important things on every parent's minds. It all defined the type of ninja that their child would eventually become. And yet, one child—the container of the Nine Tailed Fox—had been doing it for the past twelve years.

The kid had grown up as an orphan. He'd probably been told that his parents had died during the fight against the Kyuubi, and that he would probably grow up without a family in a village where family is one of the most important things to each individual ninja.

It seemed that it would be almost _impossible _for someone to not know who their true parents were, but this kid had been going under the wrong name for his whole life. Truly, Uzumaki Naruto should be Senju Naruto, son of Senju Tsunade and Jiraiya of the Sannin, and great-grandson of Senju Hashirama the Shodaime Hokage.

It seemed that it would be also impossible that this find would only be made because a young and eager apprentice needed blood to practice some of his jutsus on. Thank Kami he'd made the man swear to never speak of what he'd just found under pain of death. Most things concerning the Uzumaki boy or the Sannin were considered S-class village secrets.

Tojiro Daichi grabbed the vial of blood and his apprentice's findings and headed straight for the Godaime's office. She needed to be informed that her son was still alive.

* * *

**Four Days after the Retrival Mission**

"Will this work?" Jiraiya murmured, his darks eyes never leaving Naruto's face. He didn't bother looking anywhere else—he'd already seen it in the past three days enough to be able to picture it easily in his mind.

The boy's chest was wrapped in sealed bandages. Pale sweaty skin peaked out in intervals around them. His sunny blonde hair had been pushed away so that they wouldn't stick to his face as little beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. A grimace of pain graced the face that usually held a grin.

Across from him, Tsunade was reaching for a towel. She'd just finished administering the antidote she had created for Naruto. It hadn't been easy, since she had to figure out what the poison was doing to the young Genin _exactly_, before actually finding an antidote for it. Three days of hard work that would, with any luck, heal the little brat.

"Pray to whatever god there is that it does," she murmured. "Because if it doesn't, I don't know what we'll do."

Jiraiya looked up at Tsunade. He could see the fear in her eyes easily. He was sure that she could see the same fear in his own eyes. How couldn't he be afraid? This was his son—the son that he thought was dead, lying on this bed near death. If Tsunade couldn't heal him, would he run again? Would Tsunade? Especially if he knew that his son died trying to save his best friend, just as _he_ had attempted to do years before.

"Kami-sama, please," he whispered quietly, brushing away the wild blonde locks from his son's forehead.

* * *

**Five Days afer the Retrival Mission**

_It hurts. It hurts a lot…_ he thought to himself as he tried to blink the sleep away. He was about to move his hand to rub his eyes, but realized that the warmth emanating from it wasn't his own. He turned his head slowly to find that the hand that was wrapped around it belonged to none other than Tsunade-obaa-chan.

That was strange. No one besides Sandaime-ojii-chan had ever held his hand. Not even Iruka-sensei. Her hand felt soft and smooth, but he could see the faint scars on her knuckles. They were the signs of a trained shinobi…He smiled softly. Tsunade-obaa-chan wasn't that much of a slacker apparently. Suddenly, Tsuande-obaa-chan stirred. Her hand gripped his tighter before bleary eyes stared into his own. "Naruto?" she whispered.

He grinned mischievously. "Naw. You're just dreaming, Baa-chan. The bottles of sake will be marching in here in a few seconds. Just wait, 'ttebayo." She rolled her eyes at him, but she didn't pull her hand out of his. He didn't bother to do so either. It felt nice to actually have someone _want _to touch him.

"How are you feeling? Anything hurting?" she asked him, frowning. He thought for a second about telling her about the pain in his chest. She must've read his mind or something because immediately, she asked about his chest.

"It hurts a bit," he conceded. Before she could do anything, though, he tightened his hold on her hand and asked, "Baa-chan, did…did Sasuke come back with us?" When she didn't answer, he let go of her hand and turned over on his side.

Failure…

He'd been unable to keep his promise to Sakura-chan. How could he face her when he'd told her that it was a promise of a lifetime? How was he supposed to become Hokage if he couldn't even save his own best friend? How was everyone in the village supposed to acknowledge his strength if he couldn't bring back one of the very first people to acknowledge him? It didn't make sense…

Two quick, hot tears ran down his cheeks. Quickly, he wiped them away, knowing that Tsunade was still in the room. He heard her moving softly around the room, shuffling things about. Then suddenly, he felt her arms wrapping around him and lifting him off the bed. He froze, and then he heard her whisper, "It's okay, Naruto. Go ahead and cry. It's okay." Those words seemed to just break the dam because immediately, hot, burning tears rushed down his cheeks. All he could think about was his inability to bring back Sasuke and his broken promise to Sakura.

* * *

A/N: Well, my first published story with this account. Yay me! I've working on this thing for months, with absolutely NO INTENTION of putting it here. Obviously, I changed my mind. Anyways, so this story is a bit AU-ish, and if you think that the little crying scene at the end is way too OOC for Naruto, please remember that Naruto has lostthe guy he looked as his brother. Not only that, but Naruto is always a who keeps his word, and I think this failure was just too much for him. Eventually, people just break, and Naruto was due for a good crying session. I don't believe that after all the crap that Naruto went through in the series, he wasn't just going to stop for a least a moment and let out a few tears. The kid's TWELVE YEARS OLD, for Christ's sake! He has EMOTIONS.

But WHATEVER, I'm ranting here...lol

So what do you guys think, huh? What can I improve? What did I miss during the editing process? Is there anything in the chapter that feels just TOO wierd, AU or not? Leave a review! They actually ENCOURAGE me to update, ya know? Means SOMEBODY is actually reading this crap....


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Nope. I don't own Naruto. How sad, right?

* * *

Chapter 2

In later years, Tsunade would chalk it up to motherly instincts rising through. In later years, Jiraiya would laugh and say that it was one of the most wonderfully embarrassing things that he got to see Tsunade-hime do. In later years, Naruto would smile softly and say it as the first of many mother-like things that Tsunade would do.

The older blonde wrapped her arms around her son—_her son_—and cradled him close, whispering softly, "It's okay, Naruto. You can cry." At first, she thought that she'd misjudged, and that holding the boy this close so quickly would only embarrass him, but seconds later, she heard the heaving sobs. She held him tighter, ignoring the wet tears she now felt on her shirt. She kept murmuring into his ear, "It's okay, Naruto. It's all going to be okay," and slowly rubbing his back as the sobs gave way to hiccupping teas, and then even breaths. She knew he'd tired himself out. Carefully, she attempted to maneuver him back onto the bed, only to be surprised by the strength of his grip around her waist. She could have easily pulled it off, but instead she cradled him close again.

"Kid's not as stupid as he looks," Jiraiya chuckled.

Tsunade snapped her head up, surprised. "I thought you were sleeping."

"Unlike you, I don't snore," he retorted "Is he alright?"

"He will be…Eventually." She brushed her free hand along his blonde hair.

"What does eventually mean?" he asked, quickly crossing the space between him and the bed. He stood uncomfortably at the edge, but his eyes never left the blonde boy in her arms.

Tsunade sighed softly. "You forget that he is twelve years old, Jiraiya. Physically, he'll ready for duty in a week or so. Mentally and emotionally, I'm not sure. He's just lost his teammate, and you and I both know how painful it can be."

A quick nod, and a whispered, "I _know."_

"The only medicine there is for that type of pain is sleep and time. Eventually, he'll be ready again. He just needs time."

"Heh…The one thing he doesn't have."

"What do you mean?"

"I told you that the Akatsuki's after him, right?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Once people find out that he's our son, he'll have to worry about more people than _just_ the Akatsuki."

"Orochimaru?"

"Probably. Iwa, too. And if that idiot Sanshōuo no Hanzō (Hanzo of the Salamander) is still alive, he might take it into his head to come after Naruto. And of course, we can't forget that old dog, Danzou, and those idiots on the Council."

"Danzou wouldn't dare, and the Council follows his lead most of the time."

"He'll do anything that he thinks will 'strengthen' Konoha—even kill the Hokage's son." Jiraiya paused, stroking the bright blonde locks of his son. Softly, he murmured, "I'll have to take him out of Konoha for training."

"Why?" she whispered, staring at him with wide eyes. "Can't he be trained here?"

"In Konoha, he is, legally, Hatake's student. Now that Hatake has lost the Uchiha, he'll want to keep what he can of his Genin Team together. If I take him out of Konoha, and he is my apprentice."

"What makes you think that he'll let you take Naruto away then? What makes you think _I'll _let you take him?"

Jiraiya stared resolutely at her. "Hatake won't object if you back me up when I say that _I'm making him my apprentice._"

"So you want to take him from me to train him into becoming another pervert, just like you?" she deadpanned.

"Yes—I mean no! _No._ I plan on teaching him the Sage arts!"

"Isn't he a bit young for that?"

"He's got potential. He'll probably finish the Rasengan, and master the Hirashin _before_ he's fourteen. He just needs someone to pay attention to him, Tsunade!" Jiraiya abandoned his place at the foot of the bed, and, in one quick stride, stood beside her and the sleeping Naruto. His lowered his voice so as to not disturb the boy. "Did you see his file? In his first year at the Academy, he did so well that he could've become one of Konoha's _best _Genin by the time he was _eight!_ He's mastered the Kage Bunshin—a Jounin level jutsu—and he did it in a few hours! There's nothing wrong with him, mentally or physically. He just needs someone to show him what to do. Hatake didn't pay enough to him, so of course, he didn't grow. I'll train him to become better than the both of us—at a younger age! Tsunade-hime, please, I pro—"

"Fine."

"What?"

"I said fine. You can train him. Just return him to me without your perverted tricks, or I will be forced to castrate you with a dull kunai."

"Really?"

"Yes, _really_, you moron. I'll castrate you."

"N-not that. I don't doubt that you'll castrate me, but I mean…You'll let me take him?"

"Yes, just leave me one of your frogs—"

"_Toads_."

"—_frogs_ and I'll come by whenever I can to that mountain place of yours."

"Wait, wait, _wait._ You can't come to Mt. Myobokuzan! That's—that's like sacrila—of course, Tsunade-hime. Whatever you say. Could you please let go of me…_please?_"

"Whatever I say, got that Jiraiya? I'm his mother. I have a bigger hold on him than you do. At least he calls me by my actual name. You don't even get _that_. You get an insult for a name."

"I'm not the one he calls hag, though, Tsunade-_baa-chan._"

"Go back to sleep, _Ero-Sennin!_"

* * *

When Naruto awoke, there was no warm hand wrapped around his. Instead, there was the sound of soft snoring. He turned slowly to find the sleeping form of Jiraiya laid out on two chairs. The pervert's back was against the wall, and his head was lolling back against the chair. Naruto smiled softly, and turned back to his original position. Any moment now, someone would come in and tell Tsuna—

_Oh…shit…Tsunade-baa-chan. _In a moment everything came rushing back to him. Crying like a little kid in front of Baa-chan, then letting her cradle him while she sobbed like some baby! He was a ninja, dammit! He was supposed to be above stupid emotions like that! He was used to being alone—he'd been alone for twelve years! He was used to no one caring if he was hurt, or caring if his heart felt as if someone had ripped it out, or caring if his whole body ached so much that it hurt to even _think_. He was a ninja, dammit.

…_Dammit._

…

_Dammit, dammit, __**dammit.**_

Who was he kidding? He was failure. What kind of Hokage couldn't save his best friend from himself? What kind of ninja failed missions? What kind of _idiot_ couldn't save the guy he loved like a brother from his own ambitions? Without meaning to, he began to cry silently. It just hurt too _much…_

In a second, a warm hand was there again, but rougher, larger, and heavier. No words were said by the hand's owner, this time. The hand only rubbed circles on his back. He turned to face the hand's owner.

"You okay, Naruto?" Jiraiya whispered, pulling his hand back. He smiled reassuringly.

He nodded shakily, and roughly wiped at his eyes. It was one thing to cry in front of Tsunade-baa-chan, it was a completely other thing to cry in front of Ero-Sennin.

Crying in front of a guy, how low would he get?

"I'll send for Tsunade, then," Jiraiya said, and quickly walked out the door. Over his shoulder, he said, "If you're up to it, you can tell us what happened out there."

_Tell us what happened…_

Oh, Kami-sama, tell them what happened! Tell them that Sasuke tried, and almost succeeded, to killhim? Tell them that Sasuke left Konoha of his own free will, and wasn't kidnapped as they all had thought? How was he supposed to do that, and still make them willing to let him bring Sasuke back from Orochimaru-teme? Because he _would _bring Sasuke back—he'd promised Sakura that he would. It was a promise of a lifetime.

"_Don't worry! I'll bring him back! Promise of a lifetime!"_

…_I said that it was a promise of a lifetime, and I broke it. I couldn't bring him back…._

_I couldn't bring you back, Sasuke…_

He turned to stare out the window. It was a beautiful day outside. He could the villagers scurrying about their business, if he leaned forward a bit. They all seemed so normal, so peaceful.

They shouldn't.

Didn't they know that their demon brat had failed to bring back their Uchiha?

Didn't they know of his failure?

"Naruto?" He whipped his head to the door to see Tsunade-baa-chan, and just behind her, Ero-Sennin. He blushed for a second, remembering his moment of weakness in her arms. She smiled at him, reassuringly, and reached for the clipboard at the foot of his bed. She walked around him, checking everything, muttering sometimes. Finally, she said, "Well, it seems the poison is completely out of your system, and that your tenant has healed just about all of your injuries. We'll want to keep you here for a few more days, just to be sure."

"What happened?" Naruto asked.

She sat down in one the chairs that Jiraiya had previously occupied. "When Kakashi first brought you here, you had three broken ribs, a broken leg, and a mild concussion. Besides that, you had a hole through your chest, with a poisoned kunai dug into it. The poison was something we'd never seen before—to put it simply, your body was attacking you from the inside, eating you away. Jiraiya and I were forced to create sealed bandages, or else you would have died here. Your tenant was hard pressed just to make sure your body didn't bleed out on the hospital bed. We found an antidote that finally worked, and we've recorded it for future use." She looked straight into his eyes. But other than that…we know nothing."

He turned his face away from her. Tell her that Sasuke was probably being used by that Snake-bastard? Tell her that he was a failure?

"Naruto? I need to know what happened out the—"

"Can't Kakashi tell you? He was there, right?" Naruto whispered.

"Kakashi only knows that he found you alone at the bottom of the Valley. I'm sorry…but it will help. I promise." Tsunade reached over and squeezed his hand.

…That was the second time. She held his hand for the second time. She didn't flinch. She didn't have some pained expression on her face because she was touching him. She was…the same.

Would she change after he heard of his failure?

_Of course, she would…they all would._

"Naruto, it's ok—"

"Chouji was first," he whispered. "Some dumb-ass guy named Jirobo fought him. He was…he was really strong—trapped us in some jutsu of his, but Shika' figured a way out. After that, Chouji told us to leave. We didn't want to, but the mission was on the line. Sasuke was still heading north. So we left him, and told him to catch up as soon as possible. Then, it was Neji. He fought the one they treated as the leader, Kidoumaru. Guy had like four arms or something. We left Neji to fight him, but we split up again, in the end. Kiba went up against this weird guy with a hump on back. Shika' fought the girl. I went on ahead. I was almost caught up to him, when I met up with this guy—Kimmimaru. He fought me using his bones as weapons. Then Fuzzy-Brows showed up, and I kept on going ahead." He turned to face Tsunade and Jiraiya.

"When I found him, I told to come back with me. But he wouldn't. So, we fought. It was just like before, on the roof. I couldn't touch him. He was always too fast…I used…When I used the Kyuubi's chakra, I could finally hit him. I could was faster than him, and stronger too.

"But, then he changed again. His Sharingan evolved, I think. His movements changed. It was like…it was like he'd been holding back in the beginning, and now he wasn't. This Sasuke was too strong for me. He must have knocked me out, because the next I remember, I was standing in front of the Kyuubi's cage. And then the Kyuubi's chakra was all around me.

"It felt like the first I'd used it—fighting Haku on the bridge in Wave Country—except that it was thicker, and it hurt _a lot more_ than I remember it _ever _hurting. And then it was like I wasn't _me _anymore. I was someone…._something _else. Because of the Kyuubi.

"In the end, he changed, too. Into something that _wasn't _Sasuke. I think it was that seal that Orochimaru gave him in the Forest. I tried to fight him off, but it came down to our strongest techniques—my Rasengan and his Chidori. I went for his hitai-ite (forehead protector), he went for my chest. It hurt more than even using the Kyuubi's chakra…But…I _scratched his hitai-ite, _and he said I couldn't even touch it…

"After that…I remember being woken up by that idiot Kabuto above me. I tried to get away, I tried to punch him…I tried everything. But there was a rag in my mouth, my hands were tied down, and so were my feet, and every time I tried to fight him, he banged a kunai against my ribs. I gave afterwards, and let him do what he wanted with me.

"Before he left, he said about Sasuke becoming Orochimaru's new body. I still don't understand what he meant, I just know that it isn't good for Sasuke…" Naruto snorted. "Anything that has to do with Orochimaru isn't good. Next thing I knew, Kakashi was taking me back, and then…that's it."

"You did great Naruto," Jiraiya answered, patting his leg.

"You…you were awake the entire time?" Tsunade whispered. Glancing down, he nodded. "Thank you, Naruto. You did well." In a second, she was gone. Ero-Sennin murmured something unintelligible before he followed her out. Quietly, he lay down to stare at the ceiling.

Just like he thought…she changed the second he heard about his failure.

She couldn't even _look at him._

…_I'm a failure…_

* * *

CRASH !

Jiraiya winced as he glanced at the glass vase now a pile of shards on the floor. "Tsunade, you _have _to calm down," he said, taking a step closer to her the raging woman.

"Calm down?" she hissed. "Calm down? HE WAS AWAKE THE ENTIRE TIME, JIRIYA!" She grabbed her entire desk and threw it at the door, narrowly missing him. "That _bastard _tortured him, and you ask me to _calm down_?" She looked around the room to find something to throw, but she'd already thrown just about everything that _could _be thrown already. She dropped to her knees, ignoring the pricks of pain she felt as she did. "This is my fault. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have sent him. I shouldn't have sent _any_ of them. They're just Genins, for Kami's sake! What the hell was I thinking?"

"You were thinking that Konoha's best and strongest Genins could retrieve their kidnapped comrade," Jiraiya answered. He took a step closer to her. "You were thinking that, with little knowledge other than one eye witness, that Uchiha Sasuke could be retrieved by this village's best." Another step. "You believed the reports, and you were right. If you had more information, and more manpower, you would've sent more Genins, perhaps a Chuunin that wasn't new to the position." Another step. "Tsunade, you were amazing. Those Genin were amazing. But you can't always protect everyone." He took the final step. "You can't always protect Naruto. He's a ninja, and these are the things that come with the job." He wrapped his arms around her and let her sag against him. "It's alright though. Our son is strong, and brilliant in his own way. And right now, he needs you to be strong for him, alright?"

She nodded softly, but let the tears come down.

"Now, Naruto needs you," Jiraiya continued. "And so do a lot of patients in this hospital. Not only that, but the Council needs to be informed, missions need to be given out. Life does not stop here. Life continues on. We often wish it would stop for us, that reality would let us have a breath to ourselves. But it doesn't stop here, so we can't either. In a little while, you can visit Naruto and tell him…tell him whatever it is that Hokages tell their ninjas after they have done their very best for their village. And you'll be fine. Everything will continue on. You'll be fine…I promise…"

…_I'm a failure..._

* * *

He stood quietly in the middle of the room. On the left of him was Neji, and on the right was Chouji. Neji was hooked to some machine that beeped every few seconds, and Chouji had a mask over his mouth. Neji had bandages all around him, and Chouji had an IV hooked up to his arm.

The index finger of his right hand was wrapped up, and placed in a splint. It was his only injury. It seemed so small compared to theirs. Neji had _holes _in his body. Chouji had been forced to use a family technique that nearly _killed him._ Though he wasn't here, Kiba had a serious stomach wound, and there was a chance that Akamaru wouldn't be able to walk for a while. Lee was somewhere in the hospital recovering from wounds that he got fighting that Kimmimaru guy. And Naruto…Naruto was suffering from some poison that had been put in him, and a _hole _in his _chest_ thanks to the Uchiha.

His clenched his left hand tightly into a fist, and his fingers dug themselves into his palms. His entire body shook. "It's _his_ fault that you're all here. He couldn't just stay in the village, he had to have more…But…but it's also my fault that you're here," he whispered. "I…I should have done things differently. Maybe if I had, you guys wouldn't be here. I'm sorry. Next time…Next time, I'll do better. I promise."

Nara Shikamaru turned around, and headed out of the room.

_I failed you guys this time, but next time I'll do it better…_

"I thought we'd gone over this already."

Shikamaru stopped. He recognized the voice immediately—it was Sarutobi Asuma's. He was a man that he respected. He was the man that had made him actually _want _to work towards something. That didn't happen often.

When Shikamaru had first seen him, there had been a certain _air _around him. Something that said behind his lazy attitude and constant cloud of smoke, there was something to be feared about this man.

Something to be in awe of.

He'd shaken it off—the man acted too lazy, smoked too often, talked too much. His own father acted lazy, never smoked, and almost never talked, and _he _was pushed around by his mother—a _civilian._ But the first time that Team 10 had gone on a C-ranked mission, the first time that Team 10 saw something that might potentially take away their lives, Asuma-sensei got rid of his cigarette and _fought. _He was…dangerous. When the enemy was dead, there had been this glint in Asuma-sensei's eye, blood splattered on his uniform and drops of it on his face. He'd wiped it away, comforted Ino immediately, and congratulated them on a job well done. They'd survived, even though Asuma had done most of the work.

Most of the killing…

Shikamaru was scared of the man—freaked out by him, really. Yet, he was in awe of him. Completely in awe of him.

After that, Shikamaru had thought, _I want to be like Asuma-sensei._ He wanted to be strong like him. But, what he knew best was strategy, and it was what Asuma-sensei taught him through Shougi.

"Been over what?" Shikamaru asked over his shoulder.

Asuma walked up to him till they were standing side by side. "You blaming yourself for what happened to everyone. You did your best, but you _and _the Hokage lacked enough intel to know what the hell was going on. You did fine for your first mission."

"…I don't want to talk about this," Shikamaru answered, and started walking down the hall again. "Besides, I'm not blaming myself _completely._"

Asuma walked in time with him. "Oh? Who else are you blaming?"

"The Uchiha."

"For what? Leaving? Becoming a traitor? Well—"

He stopped suddenly, and asked, "Why couldn't he just be normal? Why couldn't he just _stay in the fucking village?_ He'll never know that people nearly _died _trying to get him, he'll never _care_! He_ never _cared about anybody but himself! Why did _we _have to go 'save' him? Why couldn't they send someone else? Or just let him be kidnapped or killed? He would've been better off! We all would've been better off without him."

"Excuse me," a nurse said scowling, as she suddenly appeared in front of him. "I'm not sure you remember this, but _this is a hospital._ People are trying to _rest._"

"Yes, we're very sorry," Asuma said, as he started to lead him away. "Where's this coming from?" he asked, as soon as they were outside. "You never care about these types of things. At least not before--"

"Chouji almost died—"

"I know, Shika. But he's going to be alright now because of Hokage-sama."

"_Neji_ almost died. Same thing for Kiba and Akamaru. I still don't know what's happening with Naruto. Then there's Lee. He would've died had it not been for that kid from the Sand. The puppet guy basically _saved _Kiba. And that Temari girl saved my life."

"I know all of this, Shikamaru."

"Yes, _you _know_…_But…The Uchiha will _never_ know. He'll never know that we all nearly died trying to bring him back to the village. He'll never know that he's broken Ino's heart. He'll never know that Sakura's heart is also broken--his own teammate. He'll never know anything. But I will. We'll all be the ones that are left to clean up the mess that he's left behind because he wanted…who knows what he wants. He never cared about anything beside himself—not in the Academy, not when he was Genin, not even when we all saved his team during the Exam. And he just _walked out of here_. Asuma-sensei, I _hate _Uchiha Sasuke. I don't care how many more retrieval teams, or rescue teams they send out, and I don't care how many times that the Hokage-sama might send me out there to help bring him back to the village, _I wish Uchiha Sasuke was dead, because he'll never know_. He'll never know how much damage he's done to all of us."

He turned his head to see the hospital behind him. They were all in there. His team…

_I failed you guys this time, but I promise, next time I'll do it perfectly. _

…_Next time I see you, Uchiha Sasuke, I promise that I'll kill you myself._

* * *

A/N: Soooo, it's been a while, yeah? I always thought that canon never really put enough attention to Retrieval Team's injuries. And most of all, that Shikarmaru's little...tantrum-like thing was never really expounded on. Maybe it's because he's too lazy to care, maybe it's because what's-his-face didn't want to put enough attention to Shikamaru, and focus more on Team 7. So , with this reasoning, Shikamaru's scene emerged.

That...and...well, I had a dream. lol...

Anyways, does notice the reccuring theme for this chapter? Hmmm..."I'm a failure." lol. It's a little obvious, but whatever. I decided NOT to put the phrase at the end of Shikamaru's part, becuase it couldn't be more obvious that he felt that he failed his team. However, unlike Tsunade and Naruto, he's doing something about it. He's working through it, promising that next time he'll do better. Next time, they won't all be near death when they return from a mission.

So, tell me what you think! FEEDBACK, PEOPLE!! lol...Anything feel wierd? Anything feel OOC? Grammatical or spelling errors? Editing problems? Story flow? WHAT DO YOU THINK? YOUR OPINION **DOES **MATTER!!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 3

Sakura hesitated when she saw the ANBU stationed at the door. The faceless shinobi was intimidating in his black armor, and porcelain dog mask. That couldn't be _Naruto's_ door, right? They only set ANBU soldiers at the doors of important people like Daimyos or high-ranking shinobi and Kages. She must be on the wrong floor, right?

"Ah, Sakura-san," someone greeted from behind her. She whirled around to see the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade-hime, walking towards her. In her arms, she held a single clipboard. "I was wondering when I'd finally see you. You're here to visit Naruto, right?"

She nodded.

"Good. He's been asking for you," she said with a small smile. "C'mon in." She walked straight up to the ANBU, who took a step to the right after glancing at her for a second. Sakura, still a bit hesitant, followed.

When Kakashi-sensei had told her that Naruto had been injured during the mission, she'd imagined just about everything from him missing several limbs to being permanently paralyzed. When Kakashi-sensei said 'injured,' it had to mean that something happened to Naruto that Tsunade-sama couldn't fix. She wasn't expecting to see her blonde teammate with bandages wrapped around his head, and arms. She wasn't expecting the bandaged blonde head leaning over a comic held by two equally bandaged hands. She didn't expect Tsunade-sama to push him back from the comic and begin scolding him about sitting too close and ruining his eyesight.

She certainly didn't expect Naruto and Tsunade-sama to be so familiar with each other.

Of course, she'd heard that Jiraiya-sama was teaching him—how couldn't she? It was the talk of the village, even more so when people began talking about him summoning the Boss Toad during his fight with Sabaku no Gaara. But how did that lead to him being so familiar with the_ Godaime Hokage?_

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted excitedly, breaking her from her thoughts. "I've been waiting for you, 'ttebayo!" He grinned brightly. "Tsunade-baa-chan and Ero-Sennin and Shizune-nee-chan won't let me have a lot of visitors, but I've been asking them to let me see you since I woke up. Sit down!" He pointed at the chair next to his bed. Quickly, he closed up the comic and let Tsunade put it on a small nightstand next to it.

"Naruto, where's Jiraiya?" Tsunade-hime asked. "He's not off peeping again, is he?" She narrowed her eyes, as she turned to the window as if to spot her former teammate from there.

Naruto's blue eyes widened for a second before he answered, "Of course, he is, dattebayo! What else would he be doing?"

Tsunade-hime turned straight to him. "Is he out getting ramen again?" She didn't wait for him to answer. She just began to rant. "Naruto, how many times have I told you? Ramen has absolutely _no_ nutritional value. You're stunting your growth, and endangering your health by eating that. And what's worse is that Jiraiya actually _listens _to you! Kami-sama, give me patience with the two of you!"

Naruto grinned. "It's not my fault that your hospital food tastes like crap. It's a hospital—shouldn't the food taste…I don't know…good? To help all the medicines go down, and stuff, dattebayo!"

Tsunade-hime rolled her eyes. "I'm going to find Jiraiya."

"Maa," Naruto grumbled, "that's not fair. You get to go find Ero-Sennin while I'm still stuck in here. Sakura-chan and I could've been at Ichiraku's or something. Dattebayo…"

She waved, before leaving the room.

Naruto muttered something before turning solemnly to her. "I'm sorry, Sakura. I failed you. I wasn't strong enough to bring Sasuke back for you."

Sakura smiled softly, and she patted his hand. "Don't worry, Naruto."

"Of course, I worry!" he exclaimed. "I made a promise of a lifetime to you, Sakura-chan! And I never go back on me word! Dattebayo!"

"I know you will," she answered. "And next time…next time I'll be strong enough to go with you. We'll bring him back together."

Naruto stared at her for a moment, before he nodded slowly. "We'll bring him back…together."

* * *

For about an hour or so, she visited with Naruto. They talked about everything and nothing. He told her about Jiraiya-sama, though he called him Ero-Sennin, and Tsunade-hime, though he called Baa-chan despite her youthful appearance. She told him how the rest of the Retrieval Team were faring—Shikamaru had a broken finger, Kiba received a deep wound but was healing just fine, Akamaru had all the nerves in his legs cut, but Kiba's sister said he'd be alright soon, Neji was healing from internal injuries, and Chouji was healing from a dangerous family technique. They talked about Kakashi-sensei being away when they actually needed him. They talked about Gaara and all the other Sand ninjas that had finally left Konoha.

But they never spoke of their missing teammate.

* * *

She breathed in a lungful of fresh Konoha air. It was good to get out of there. Though Naruto's room smelled nice, the other rooms in the hospital smelled like medicine and sickness. She had no way to describe it, but that's what they smelled like to her. After she'd visited Naruto, she'd stopped by Kiba's room to say hello, which led to her seeing Chouji, Lee, and Neji.

Neji was walking around, with assistance of course. Kiba didn't like to walk too far from Akamaru, so he stayed mostly in his room. Lee was walking with a crutch, but he was told that he'd be fine soon. Chouji was resting on his bed, and he looked tired but happy to see everyone. Ino and Shikamaru from Team 10 were also there; Tenten was visiting Neji and Lee; and Hinata was visiting Kiba while Shino was away on a mission with his dad. Shikamaru's finger was still in a splint, but other than that he seemed fine. Ino had been loud as usual, but she seemed to be in a much better mood now that Chouji was doing better. Tenten spent most of the time just talking with Neji and Lee.

They'd all be interested in Naruto, but she'd been ordered by the ANBU ninja guarding the door, as she was leaving, not to speak of his condition.

It all seemed so weird to her. She felt as if she shouldn't be walking out of the hospital. That Naruto should be running and jumping around like he usually did beside her. That Sasuke should be here, glaring at the back of Naruto's head, and telling him to knock it off already. She shouldn't be all alone

It just didn't make any sense.

One minute, they were Team 7—_Hatake Kakashi's Team 7_.

Now, Sasuke was _gone._ Naruto was in the hospital, _quiet_. Kakashi-sensei was off doing missions for the village. And here she was, walking home alone.

_What happened to us?_

_What happened to Team 7?_

_What happened to _me_? I was going to become stronger. I was going to change. I was going to make Sasuke-kun and Naruto both proud of me. I wasn't going to be staring at their backs anymore. I was going to be walking _next to them. _I was going to be a _real _member of Team 7. I was going to be someone that they could depend on, and not have to protect anymore. I was going to be strong. _

_What happened to me?_

* * *

"Alright, so sign here, and here," Tsunade murmured pointing at the appropriate blank spaces for Jiraiya. "Initial here, print here, full signature here—"

"Is there an end to this?" Jiraiya asked, his hand pausing over the paper. He sighed when Tsunade gave him a blank look. "Guess not," he muttered under his breath.

Tsunade rolled her eyes as she watched him scribbling away. "Hey, you're the one that wants to make Naruto you're apprentice. Besides, this is nothing compared to the actual amount of paperwork that _I _have to do every day."

"Yeah, but you have Shizune to help you," Jiraiya whined. "And you take sake breaks!"

"Don't be a child, Jiraiya."

"Tsunade-hime!"

"Don't 'Tsunade-hime' me! You're almost done. Hurry up…Have you told Naruto, yet?"

"Told Naruto what?"

"_This._ You and me—years ago. Anything?"

"…No."

"No…what?"

"No, I haven't told I'm making him my apprentice. And, no, I haven't told him that we're his parents. I thought…maybe…we should do it together?"

"I don't know. I barely understand it all."

"…Heh, he definitely is your child, though."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He has your temperament, and your hair. Your nose and your chin…And your eyes. Heh…He is without a doubt _your _child_._"

"I don't know. I seem to remember that you acted a lot like he does when _you _were a child…And, he has your hands. Your loyalty to this damn village."

"Hn. I remember once, during our first Chuunin Exam—"

"—our only Chuunin Exam—"

"—that you beat the shit out of some kid because he said that Konoha ninjas were all tree huggers."

"Hehe, yeah, I remember that actually."

"I wasn't the only patriotic one in the team."

"You certainly were the most though."

"You say that as if it was a bad thing."

"So much has been done to you in this village. To all of us—Naruto especially. I just don't understand how you can love this place so much, after everything you've been through here."

"And yet, you're the one wearing the special hat, yeah?"

"Yes. Irony of ironies, I say that I hate this village, and yet, I am its leader. I have sworn to die for Konoha if I have to. How weird is that? But, we're sidetracking. Naruto, remember? He's what we're talking about here."

"Yes…"

"So?"

"I'll tell him that I'm making him my apprentice. Tonight."

"Ask him. He's never been given a choice, and you should at least give him one choice. Don't demand things of him. He might not want to leave Konoha. He loves this village more than any of us, and might not be so ready to leave as we once were."

"Alright…And, the other thing? Do you want me to tell him?"

"No. We should do it together."

"Alright."

* * *

_White hair and the flash of a kunai._

_Pain. Digging, horrible pain._

"_Are you listening, Naruto-kun?"_

_Scream. Fight. Digging, horrible pain._

"_I'm going to tell you something very important, alright?"_

_Kunai dripping blood rose and fell deeper into his chest._

"_Orochimaru-sama sent me. He knew that you would follow Sasuke-kun as far as you could."_

_Burning,digging,horriblepain. _

_Please stop. _

_Why won't you stop?_

_Make it stop._

"_You can be quite predictable when you want to be, Naruto-kun."_

_Someonemakehimstop.  
_

"_But then again, you _are _from Konoha—a rat hole infested with weak idiots like yourself. That's why Sasuke-kun is leaving. Because you are, like all the shinobi in Konoha, weak. You're a failure."_

_A flash of pink hair. A twisted sneer. __Stopstopstopstopstop.  
_

"_You're a failure, Naruto. You couldn't even bring me back Sasuke-kun for me."_

_Grey hair. A blue mask. __Please, why won't you stop?_

"_You were never strong enough. Sasuke was always stronger than you. You never had a chance."_

_Midnight black. Red eyes. Ithurtsithurtsithurts.  
_

_"You'll never become Hokage, if you stay this weak."_

_Flash of white. Bright, beaming smile.  
_

_Diggingburninghorriblepain._

"_In three years, Orochimaru-sama will make Sasuke-kun his new body, and he'll have the Sharingan. Then, Orochimaru-sama will conquer the shinobi world and be immortal."_

_The pain is intense, but it's no longer digging._

"_Three years, Naruto-kun. And then Sasuke-kun is Orochimaru-sama's." _

Naruto jumped. Panting, he wiped away the sweat that had collected at his forehead. _Just a dream…It's just a dream._

"Oh. You're awake."

Sitting on the ledge of his window was Jiraiya. The old man grinned, his white teeth gleaming in the dark. "I've got a proposition for you. Do wanna listen?"

* * *

Ino clenched her fingers tightly, hoping that this little motion would help her gather what nerves she had together. She really didn't know what she was planning on doing, but all she knew was that she needed to see Sakura. She needed to comfort her old friend.

So, without a thought, she'd shouted to her mother over her shoulder as she left the house that she was leaving. Without waiting for her mother's reply, she'd slammed the door shut behind her and headed down the streets. She was without a doubt glad that her father wasn't there or else he wouldn't have even _thought _of letting her leave the house unprotected.

She lived in one of the few sections of Konoha that _hadn't _been destroyed by the Sound Invasion. All around her, there were no signs that the village had even been invaded. If anything, it looked like life continue on as usual. Sakura lived on one of the same streets, and it only took Ino a few minutes to jog the four blocks to her house.

She stopped uncertainly in front of the door, and then forced herself to knock. She wasn't a Yamanaka for nothing. Working with Shikamaru, Chouji, and Asuma-sensei taught her that she had to force herself sometimes to do things that _needed _to be done. And this was one of the things that _needed_ to be done. Thankfully, it was Sakura who opened the door.

She wouldn't be able to stand it if Haruno-san was the one who'd opened it. Haruno-san always was _just a little _disappointed with her because she'd helped Sakura to continue on with her studies as a ninja. If she hadn't become friends with Sakura, there was no doubt in Ino's mind that Sakura would have dropped out of the Academy and gone to be someone's trophy wife. Haruno-san would have been happy with that future for her daughter.

Instead, her daughter went on to become a Genin. Her daughter became part of a team led by a legendary (perverted) Jounin. Her daughter was a shinobi that could be killed on any random mission. Her daughter would never become someone's trophy wife. Haruno Sakura would always be a shinobi to Konoha.

"Ino?" Sakura asked as she leaned on the doorframe. "What are you doing here?

Ino fidgeted. "I…I came to see you."

"Obviously."

"Uh…I wanted to see how you were. After everything…that's happened," she finished rather lamely.

"Yeah…Do you…want to come in?" Sakura offered. She stepped away from the doorframe to allow the blonde in.

"Um…sure. I would love to." Ino smiled, and walked into the house.

* * *

Author's Note: Hello again! So, you guys won't believe what I did this weekend! lol--I went to Washington D.C.!!! Yay, me, right? Me and my family had a great time, we had bagels for breakfast (and decided that NY [our homestate] is the only place where you can find GOOD bagels), went to the Holocaust Museum (and spent like four five hours there), saw the Washington Monument several times, went to the Lincoln Monument (and stood in pure awe at the sheer size of Lincoln, and all the details and stuff), and finally went to the White House and took a bunch of pics at the gates. And before you ask, no, we didn't see the President.

I've always dreamed of moving into a penthouse apartment in Manhattan (and if not that, moving to London or Paris with my BF), but I am SERIOUSLY considering moving to D.C. It's like a much more peaceful version of Manhattan, I think. I don't know...maybe it's because it was such a beatiful day yesterday....

Anyways, this chapter! I love the ending for it, don't you? When I finished it, I thought--yes! perfect ending place! For some reason what's-his-face never mentions Sakura's family. We don't know if she has two living parents, no parents, or one parent. We don't know if her parents are civilians, or shinobi. But, I'm guessing here, from the way Sakura was dressed as a child, and as a twelve year old, Sakura's parents are civilians.

If we were to compare her to Ino (who has a shinobi father) we'd see that Sakura has no family techniques, and her clothing as a genin is almost adorable. _Sakura_ is adorable. Ino, as a child and as a Genin, is not adorable. She looks, more or less, like a kunoichi (think Kurenai and Anko). She wears clothing that is slightly flirtatious/sexy, while still being something that she can move around in.

Of course, we can pin this off on Ino wanting to look pretty/beautiful, thus making Sakura's way of dress acceptable, but I don't think so. We'll just have to wait and see in canon, but for the purposes of this fanfic, Sakura's parents are civilian.

Let's see...anything else? Oh, yeah! My Naruto reads comic books! I remember that there used to be this ending for Naruto where it had a sorta cartoonish thing going on. Anyways, the point is, Naruto was reading a comic book in it, playing video games, and...er...something else, I think. I don't remember anymore. lol. Whatever. So, here, Naruto reads comics, if only for the reason that I can't think of him willingly reading anything else.

Then, there's Naruto's nightmare (aww, no more apostrophes!) Someone asked for a bit more detail about Naruto's torture--there it is. Originally, I was going to make it into a flashback of the whole scene, but it felt so awkward that I scratched it out. Then, I decided to make a nightmare/dream scene instead. I still think that it's still a bit awkward, but for now, it'll work. It's more or less the same thing, just add in a few muffled screams, Kabuto's smiling face in the place of Sakura, Kakashi, and Sasuke's faces, and you'll be fine.

I can't make a good torture scene. I'm sorry!!! WAAAH! I'M A FAILURE TOO!!! WAAH!!

Anyways, I'm going to long on this, so I'll stop here.

Don't forget to review and give me TONS AND TONS of feedback! lol...


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: You already KNOW that I don't own Naruto, so why do I bother with this?

* * *

Chapter 4

All he wanted right now was to shower and then go to bed. The smell of blood clung to him, and his clothes. He hadn't bathed in almost three days, and his chakra was nearly nonexistent after he'd been forced to use Obito's Sharingan so many times. He was so tired he couldn't jump from rooftop to rooftop as he usually did. Instead, he walked through the quiet streets of Konoha to his apartment building. He thanked Kami that he only lived on the second floor as he slowly climbed the stairs. Quickly, he turned down the hallway towards his apartment. As he drew closer to it, he saw a body sitting on the floor, leaning on his door. He narrowed his uncovered eye, wishing the landlord would put better lights in the hallways.

"Kakashi-sensei?" a boy's voice asked.

_Kakashi-sensei?_ "Naruto? Is that you?" he asked, his voice harsh and grating on his ears.

The body rose and stepped closer to the light. His spiky hair was usual held back from his with his hitai-ite, but now, he wore it loose with his hitai-ite hanging loosely on his neck. The blonde boy had (finally) discarded his usual orange and blue jacket and instead wore a black t-shirt with the Konoha symbol embroidered on the front. He wore dark green shorts that reached just past his knee. Bandages were wrapped around his legs till mid-calf. His right arm was wrapped in the same bandages up to his elbow. The Shodaime's necklace lay just underneath his hitai-ite. In his left hand, he held a small comic book.

"Yeah, sensei. It's me." Naruto grinned, his canines gleaming in the weak light. "You've been gone for three weeks, sensei, and you've already forgotten how I look!" He laughed to himself. "And if I left for a year or two? Would you remember me at all?"

Kakashi smiled a little under his mask and continued on to his apartment. "What are you doing here, Naruto?"

"I needed to talk to you, and Tsunade-baa-chan told me that you'd be arriving today. So I waited."

He unlocked the door, and invited the blonde in with a gesture. "I'm sorry you've found me like this. I'm sure I smell."

"It's alright. Take your time, sensei. I don't mind." Naruto quickly sat on the empty couch, flipping open his comic. "Go ahead and do whatever you planned on doing—I'll wait here."

A little wary of this different kind of Naruto, Kakashi headed for the shower. Kakashi really didn't care if the blonde destroyed his apartment while he showered. All the mattered was getting the smell of blood of his body, and, quite possibly, burning his uniform.

The hot water washed over his body, cleansing him of blood, dirt, and something that he wasn't quite sure of. After six months of only D-class and one C-class mission, Kakashi had almost forgotten the sticky feeling of blood drying on your clothes, of adrenaline pumping through your body as you ran. Actually, he would have been happy to not remember the feeling of blood drying on skin, but you can't have everything right?

He shut off the water and reached for his towel. Muttering to himself about blondes who destroyed nice, comfortable habits, he dressed himself in the cramped and humid bathroom. Then he reached for the door and walked out. He half expected to walk into a trap or some type of prank left by the blonde, but instead, he found his apartment exactly the same. Naruto was still sitting on his couch, head bent over his comic book. The only change in the room was the sun that shone through the window, and crept further along the floor.

He seated himself on the couch carefully, trying (in vain) to not hit any of the bruises on his legs and torso. Naruto closed his comic, and gave him his full attention. "So what can I do for you Naruto?" he asked.

"It's been three weeks, sensei. Where have you been?"

"On a mission."

"I know—I'm just curious to know where."

"Oh, you know. Around. I was a little late because I had to fight of a crowd of pirate ninja monkeys, but at least I'm back, right?"

Naruto grinned, and then turned his face away from the older shinobi. "I'm sure you haven't heard yet, but Sakura has asked Tsunade-baa-chan to teach her. Baa-chan's still thinking it over."

Kakashi was surprised. He hadn't expected this. He guessed that it was time that Sakura start taking her career seriously and maybe Tsunade was her best bet for that. "I guess that means it will only be you and me, then?"

"No. It won't."

"What?"

"Tsunade-baa-chan has decided to disband Team 7. Jiraiya has asked me to become his apprentice." Cerulean blue eyes bore into his black one. "I'm leaving, sensei. Jiraiya wants to train me outside of the village. He's promised that it wouldn't take any longer than three years."

He was shocked. He hadn't expected to lose both his students so quickly after Sasuke. He hadn't expected to lose _Naruto, _for that matter. He had always counted on the blonde staying close to him out of loyalty to his first Jounin-sensei.

"Jiraiya filled out all the paperwork; Baa-chan helped me with the last parts of it. All that's left is for you to sign it now—your legal consent to pass my training on to Ero-Sennin." The blonde didn't speak quickly or even nervously as if he was afraid of what his current sensei might think. His words were sure.

"What if I don't want to give my consent?" he asked sullenly. "What if I choose to keep you as my student?"

Naruto let out a harsh laugh. "Really, sensei, you and I both know you had only one student, and he's gone now. Don't try to fool me." He opened his mouth to sputter a half-hearted protest, but Naruto stopped him. "Don't bother, Kakashi. We both know it to be true, so don't waste my time pretending. It's fine—Jiraiya explained it all to me. You want to repay your dead friend Obito through his younger cousin, Sasuke. That's fine. Just…just, _please,_ sign the form, okay?"

"Why Naruto?" he whispered harshly, his hands clenched tightly. This was happening too fast. He just wanted to go to bed. He just wanted to sleep…He shook his head. "No. Don't answer that." He stood up from the couch and headed for the door. "I don't want to hear this nonsense. I'm very tired, okay Naruto? I just got back from a mission, remember? So, we'll talk later, okay?"

"No, Kakashi." The blonde boy also stood, but he didn't go to the door. He just, calmly, stood there. "I'm telling you now that you have to go to the Hokage Tower tomorrow and sign the forms, okay? This isn't about you, or Sasuke, or even Sakura. It's about me, and what I want to do right now. So…sign the forms."

Exasperated, Kakashi asked, "Why would you want to leave the village? Your friends? _Team 7?_"

"Team 7 is disbanded," Naruto answered slowly, clenching his fists tightly. "My friends don't need me right now."

"Is this because I didn't train you during the Chuunin Exams? Is that it? I promise I'll train you better now. Just why would you want to _leave?_"

"_Sasuke's gone!_" Naruto bellowed, his cerulean blue eyes flickering red for a moment. He took three quick steps to stand in front of Kakashi. "I _didn't _bring him back. I _lost. _I'm too _weak_ to fight Sasuke at this level, so I have to _train!_ You could only teach Sasuke; you wouldn't teach me. I'm leaving this village to become stronger because _you _can't do the job right!"

"I'm sorry that I didn't train you," Kakashi said softly. "But I did what I had thought was best for you, _and_ for Sasuke. _For all of you._"

"No. You did what was best for Sasuke. Sakura's doing what's best for her. Now, I'm doing what's best for me." With that, Naruto left the apartment.

Kakashi sighed softly to himself.

* * *

The smell of ramen noodles filled her nostrils. The sounds of friendly chatter, noodles frying, and the chef and waitress serving customers blocked out all the other sounds of the passersby on the street. She looked around searching for the blonde head of her former teammate. She wanted to tell him the great news—Tsunade-sama would take her on as an apprentice.

She headed walked out of the stand and stood by the curtain watching. Maybe he'd show up…A flash of yellow caught her eye, and she shouted, waving her hand, "Naruto!" She grinned as the boy turned his head over to her.

"Sakura-chan?" he asked loudly, as he made his way over to her. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you," Sakura answered. "Tsunade-sama said she'll take me on as her apprentice!" she said bouncing on her heels, grinning widely.

Naruto beamed. "Congratulations, Sakura-chan. I knew that you'd do it! Just be careful that she doesn't make you into a drunken hag just like her!" He laughed at his own joke, dodging Sakura's slap.

"That's not even funny, Naruto!" Sakura retorted.

Still chuckling, "Of course it's funny, Sakura. You just don't know funny."

She scowled slightly. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you since I visited you at the hospital!"

"Ah…Tsunade-baa-chan wants me to stay nearby," he answered sheepishly. "Apparently someone heard about me and Gaara's fight during the invasion, and she wants to make sure that nothing happens. So, I've been staying at the Hokage mansion with her."

Sakura's green eyes widened. "_You've been living with the Hokage!_"

Laughing again, Naruto replied, "Ha, ha! Yeah! Did you know that Tsunade-baa-chan is _horrible _in the mornings? Oh, and if you try waking her up—she'll beat the _crap _out of you! Oh, and—"

Sakura interrupted, "Shut up, Naruto. You're going to make me regret asking Tsunade-sama to apprentice me."

"Oh, and she _drinks!_ The other night she had at _least _three bottles of sake."

"Stop it, Naruto!"

"Oh and when she and Ero-Sennin get together—"

"Who's Ero-Sennin?"

"Oh…er…he's Jiraiya, but he's a _huge _pervert. But when he and Baa-chan get together they're _hilarious!_ 'Cause Ero-Sennin's always hitting on her and being a big pervert, but Baa-chan just has to _flick _her finger and it's 'BAM!—he's smashed against the wall."

"_Be quiet, Naruto!_"

"Oh, and Ero-Sennin's asked me to be his apprentice!"

"…That's new." Sakura took a half step back, surprised.

"Hehe. I thought I should tell you before I lost the nerve." He scratched the back of his head nervously.

She smiled broadly at him. "Wow, congratulations Naruto! Now we'll both get stronger. Have you told Kakashi-sensei yet?"

"I just came from his apartment," the blonde answered pointing in the general direction of the Jounin's apartment building. "I need him to sign a form before it can be official."

"A form?" This was new. She hadn't heard of anything like this.

"Yeah, didn't Baa-chan tell you?" He seemed to grow a whole two inches before her, happy to know something that _Sakura-chan_ didn't. "This whole apprenticeship thing needs you to sign _a lot _of papers from your new master, yourself, and if you have one, your current sensei. Don't ask me why, though—Baa-chan got boring halfway through."

"…Idiot, you should've paid attention," she deadpanned. "Well, what did Kakashi-sensei say?"

"Hehe—he didn't take it too well." He scratched the back of his head again, sheepishly as he stared at the ground. "

"Don't worry, Naruto. I'm sure that he'll come around. He has to, right?"

"Y-yeah! Hehe, you're right, Sakura-chan! He'll come around even if he doesn't want to, 'cause Baa-chan will _make _him come around! Haha!"

"…People are looking at you weird, Naruto."

"Sorry."

"Whatever."

"Hey, do you…er…do you want to come eat dinner with me?"

"Naruto…"

"N-not like a date! I mean we could like…we could go to the Hokage Mansion and eat dinner there! You can meet Ero-Sennin, and see what Baa-chan's _really_ like, and—have you met Shizune-nee-chan? You _have _to meet Nee-chan! Oh, Tonton, _too!_" Naruto grabbed her wrist and led the pink haired Genin straight for the Mansion, disregarding any protests along the way.

* * *

He took her to a large room. The floor was made of long planks of polished wood. Three of the four walls were covered with tapestries of old legends and stories. The fourth wall was one long floor-to-ceiling window that looked out towards a peaceful garden. In the center of the room, a low table was set for at ten people with elaborate tableware.

She gazed at it all through wide green eyes. Beside her, Naruto beamed, his toes curling under his bare feet.

"Ne, Gaki (brat), who's the girl? Is she your…ehehe…your _girlfriend_?"

Naruto suddenly blushed as he whirled around to face the speaker. "_Ero-Sennin!_ This is _Sakura-chan!_ Be nice or else she won't come to dinner again!"

Sakura turned a hair slower than Naruto to see the speaker. 'Ero-Sennin' was a tall man, with broad shoulders. He's spiky white hair was tied in a ponytail that hanged over his shoulder as he leaned on the doorway into the room, his thick, muscled arms crossed. He had dark colored eyes, with a red line coming down from under each eye to his jaw. "Aww! My little _Naru-chan's_ growing up!" Ero-Sennin crowed "Aren't you going to introduce me, _Naru-chan_?" He moved away from the doorway.

"Stop _calling _me that! I'm not a baby!" Naruto shouted angrily, before his cerulean eyes suddenly gained a mischievous glint in them. He turned to his pink haired friend, grinning broadly. "Sakura-chan, this is Ero-Sennin. He used to be Baa-chan's teammate, but then Baa-chan got tired of his stupidity and beat him up so bad, not even the Shinigami could tell what he was. But then, Baa-chan had pity on him and brought him back to life."

"BAKA!" Ero-Sennin smashed his fist onto the top of Naruto's head, only for the boy to be replaced with one of the many chairs in the large room.

"HAHA! ERO-SENNIN, YOU _SUCK_!" Naruto shouted, making a face at the old man.

With a roar of (mock) anger, Jiraiya-sama chased after him, going (comically) around the table several times as the two shouted insults at each other.

Sakura watched the scene before her with a half bemused, half _a_mused face.

* * *

The night proceeded without _too _many incidents. Tsunade-sama appeared some ten minutes after Naruto and Jiraiya-sama's fight had begun, 'Shizune-nee-chan' following behind her. Tsunade-sama _literally_ used one of her fingers to flick Jiraiya-sama down the hallway, after which she scolded Naruto on lowering himself to Jiraiya's level and making a bad impression on her "future new apprentice." All of this was said with an amused smirk dancing on the older kunoichi's lips.

Dinner was a loud affair—Naruto and Jiraiya-sama insulted each other from across the table (sometimes chucking food at each other), Shizune-san stopping what fights that she could. Tsunade-sama, however, _ended _all the fights with just _one look._ Shizune-san and Tsunade-sama both spoke to her about medicine and the job of a medic-nin while Naruto and Jiraiya-sama fidgeted lightly in their chairs before they resorted to making faces at each other (Tsunade-sama then proceeded to yell several profanities at Jiraiya-sama for acting like a child). Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama both drank numerous bottles of warmed sake, sometimes offering some to her and Naruto (Shizune put an end to _that _before Naruto could accept).

All in all, Sakura thought the night was a rather fun affair and promised Naruto that she'd come by more often. Now that she knew that Naruto was more or less confined to the Hokage Mansion, as he waited for Kakashi-sensei to sign whatever forms that were necessary for him to begin his official training under Jiraiya-sama, she promised the blonde to stop by as often as she could and to bring as many of the Rookie Nine that she could.

But as she was escorted home by one of the Chuunins that Tsunade-sama had called, she couldn't help but wonder how on earth Naruto had become so familiar with two of the Dentetsu no Sannin (literally: Legendary Three Ninja)!

* * *

A/N: Hello! So this chapter feels a little short, but whatever, right? It was the right place to end it. I think Naruto and Jiraiya both acted a little childish at the end, but I was in a good mood (big surprise there, right?), so I left it like that. Personally, I was starting to get a little tired of all the angst that I was creating, and I needed a little happiness. I mean, sure, being depressed and sad is a natural human emotion, but I do think that too much of it is bad for your body. It HAS to be--we weren't made to be sad all the time.

I mean, LOOK AT THE WORLD AROUND YOU! IT'S TOO BEAUTIFUL TO BE SAD ALL THE TIME!

Anyways, so someone noticed that in one of the chapters (i forget which...) Tsunade left Naruto thinking that he was a failure, and then the next chapter they're all happy together again. So...um...just assume that everything's ok in that department, becuase I couldn't make it fit into this chapter, and it would just destroy the flow of the plot if I wrote out the scene. I mean, if you guys think that it is TOO essential to the story, I'll find a way to fit it in, but let's put an end to all the angst, right? Who needs more tears?

So, as I get ready to close, I leave you with the usual questions: What do you guys think? Was it too OOC in some parts? Are you tired of the angst, too? What about the grammer and spelling? Any problems with the flow of the story? Is there something that I didn't explain clearly enough?

Don't forget to review!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I STILL don't own Naruto. My lawyer is working on that, though.

* * *

Chapter 5:

"Kyaa! Kyaa!"

"Stop. You're doing it wrong, _again._ Your fist is supposed to be higher here; and here, your right leg should be farther forward. Do it _again_."

"…Kyaa! Kyaa!"

"Better."

"Kyaa! Kyaa!"

Kakashi watched silently over the two people training below him. One was _his_ student, Naruto, and the other was Jiraiya-sama. Jiraiya was teaching him a taijutsu form—something he'd never bothered to do with Naruto. Sasuke's own taijutsu was perfect, Sakura's followed the Academy form perfectly, and Naruto had his own thing going for him. It wasn't really taijutsu that the blonde did; the boy fought more like some brawler on the street. And really, what did forms matter when he used five or six Shadow Clones every time he fought?

There were no Shadow Clones today. It was only Naruto and Jiraiya-sama training in one of the Hokage Mansion various courtyards.

Only a sweating and tired Naruto, and a patient and determined Jiraiya-sama.

Naruto had this determined look on his face as he slowly went over the forms, stopping every time that Jiraiya corrected him, and thinking each move carefully. The boy flowed through each kata as gracefully as he could. There were no complaints when Jiraiya-sama stopped him—in fact, the boy didn't say anything other than "Kyaa!" as he went through each kata. He was solely focused on his training.

It seemed so different from the times that he'd trained with Naruto. If he remembered correctly, the boy was usually complaining about something. If it wasn't because he was bored with chakra control exercises, it would be about something he didn't understand. Of course, his complaints led to Sasuke telling him that he was an idiot, which led to a long and distracting fight. Then he'd be required to tell them to just go home because they couldn't concentrate on training.

Sometimes, he wondered how in Kami's name Minato-sensei had so much patience with him and Obito as Genins. They'd always be fighting over something just like Naruto and Sasuke…

Maybe Naruto was right—he'd never thought too much on Naruto's complaints. It was the few times that he was quiet when he worried. Maybe he should've paid more attention to him when he complained. Maybe he should've thought more _about_ his complaints. Maybe he should've trained Naruto harder, made sure that he actually _understood _all the concepts involved. Maybe he shouldn't have focused so much on Sasuke's Sharingan, and focused more on the boy

He turned away from the two, and headed towards the Hokage Tower.

* * *

Jiraiya watched Naruto's movements critically. The boy was learning much faster than he'd expected. It was like he was a freakin' sponge that absorbed everything and anything that was thrown at him. Naruto had learned the first ten katas of a taijutsu that suited him much better than he'd thought—Fox Style.

It was one of the five taijutsus that had been used the most when Konoha had first been created, but after the Kyuubi attack, no one wanted to be reminded of the fox demon. But it embodied the best characteristics of a fox—agility, speed, flexibility, and hidden strength. Naruto had all these characteristics, and it _wasn't _because of the demon sealed inside of him.

The Kyuubi didn't have the ability to change its host's body in that way.

If anything, it seemed that Jiraiya had found another thing that Tsunade had passed on to their son.

_Is there _anything_ she didn't give the kid?_ He thought to himself, shaking his head. He looked around the training field. The leaves were changing from luscious green to dark red and bright yellows. It was time for them to being leaving soon…

He wondered for a second if Kakashi had finally signed the trice damned forms or not. That brat was taking too long. Just because he was some _legendary_ _Jounin_, and he'd once been Minato's student didn't mean that he could just walk around Konoha ignoring orders from his superiors. Wasn't Hatake _known_ for going by the book? Or was that before the whole Iwa Incident?

He rose from his sitting position, shouting, "Naruto! C'mere for a second."

The blonde boy stopped in the middle of one of his katas. Panting, he asked, "What d'you want, Ero-Sennin?"

"You've done enough taijutsu training for today, brat," Jiraiya answered. "Take a breather, and do some meditation. I've got to go and talk with Tsunade. I'll be back for you soon." He turned away from the boy, smiling as he heard the blonde grumble to himself.

* * *

"I want to know what Jiraiya plans on teaching Naruto," Hatake demanded.

Tsunade scowled as she stared at the lazy Jounin in front of her. When he'd walked into her office, he'd had his little porn-book out, his dark eye never leaving the pages of the book even as he maneuvered himself into an unoffered chair. Had she been the Sandaime, he'd have had the book put away _long before_ he'd entered her office.

Of course, this man was a legend in his own right. Besides being the son of the legendary White Fang, Hatake Sakumo, and studying under Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage, Hatake had completed more missions than most Jounins his generation. His record as an ANBU Captain was spotless, and all of his previous superiors wrote glowing reports about him. Not only that, but as a teenager, he'd been instrumental during the Third Great Ninja War. If she expected to have the respect of _all_ the shinobi under her, she had to earn the respect of this one before her.

But, how could she earn the respect of a man that she thought was a complete and total idiot?

She didn't blink at the demand, choosing to ignore his rudeness at the moment. Maybe she'd finally get the damned Jounin sign Sakura's and Naruto's apprenticeship papers. "What does it matter to you?" she asked.

He narrowed his eye slightly and calmly said, "It matters to me because he's _my_ student."

"Not anymore," she replied harshly. "As I told you after your debriefing, Team 7 is officially disbanded. All that's left is for you to sign Sakura's and Naruto's apprenticeship papers." She pulled out sets of papers, and placed them in front of him.

In a more frustrated voice, he said, "I deserve to know whether or not my stud—"

"_Not your student._ Sign the forms." She wished she could just _coerce _the man into listening to her, but the signature had to be made of the sensei's free will. Besides, she'd get nowhere with the man if she couldn't convince him to trust that she knew best and sign a simple paper. Of course, it wasn't _really_ that simple, but no one wanted to go into the technicalities of it all.

Kakashi sighed, his eye softening. "Hokage-sama, you and Jiraiya-sama both haven't been in Konoha for a while," he said in a patronizing voice. "You don't know how we do things here in the village now."

"I know enough. Sign the damn forms." Her hands clenched into tight fists, and she suppressed the urge to beat the man to a pulp right away.

"I will sign it for Sakura, because I'm sur—"

"You're a damn hypocrite, Hatake." Jiraiya's voice echoed into the room. Tsunade sighed to herself as she heard him hop over the windowsill and land softly in her office. "You don't give a shit about anyone but yourself. You've realized what Naruto's capable of, and you thought, 'Maybe I can actually teach him something, and make him _eternally grateful to the sensei that trained him up right!_'" Jiraiya stood behind her chair, and sneered, "Am I, or am I not right, Hatake?"

Kakashi sighed once more. "You're wrong, Jiraiya-sama. I believe that Sakura will be safe here in the village walls where I can keep an eye on her and her training with Tsunade-sama. However, I cannot know what you plan on teaching Naruto if you neither of you plan on telling me. If I don't have the proper intelligence, then I refuse."

"What I plan to teach _my student_ has absolutely _nothing_ to do with you, Hatake," Jiraiya sneered.

"It's only common sense, Jiraiya-sama," Hatake replied blandly. "If you asked any other Jounin, they would say the same exact thing."

"You didn't have a problem with me teaching him during the Chuunin Exams."

"Because it was only for a few days, and Sandaime-sama said that it was best. However, Sandaime-sama is dead, and I have to do what _I_ think is best for _my _team. I can't teach Sakura anything at this moment—she is suited for genjutsu and medical jutsus, not the ninjutsus that I have. Naruto, however, is more than able."

"They aren't your team anymore, Hatake," Jiraiya crowed. "You don't _have _a team. You're just some random Jounin who thinks he's better than he actually is."

"Jiraiya," Tsunade murmured, stopping him.

"If you won't tell me what you plan on teaching him, tell me where you're taking him." Hatake tilted his chin forward, a smirk probably playing on his lips underneath his blue facemask.

"Where d'you think I plan on taking him? Iwagakure?" Jiraiya sneered.

Hatake's single visible eye narrowed. "It's no secret that you've been there—you've have contacts there. But you can't take Naruto there with you. He looks too much like the Yondaime to be safe."

"Naruto doesn't look like the Yondaime," Jiraiya scoffed.

"They both have blonde hair and blue eyes," Hatake answered.

"Naruto's skin is darker! And—"

"We're _not_ having this conversation," Tsunade cut in, angrily. "Jiraiya will take Naruto where he and I see fit. What he plans to teach Naruto is up to Jiraiya, but it is all so that he can learn to defend himself from the Akatsuki."

"Who is 'Akatsuki'?" Hatake asked, warily.

Jiraiya stepped forward, answering seriously, "Akatsuki is a group of S-Ranked missing-nin. You saw two of them when I took Naruto with me to find Tsunade—Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame. Orochimaru used to be part of Akatsuki, which is the only reason I found out about them."

Hatake nodded, understanding Jiraiya's words and his reasoning behind them. "Alright, why can't you just train him here in the village?"

"It would be too destructive, one, and two, he'd be required to take missions if he's here, which would lessen the amount of time that we have together. Besides, the brat's not always going to be under your eye. He's going to be the best ninja this village has ever seen, and he's already growing out of you."

Hatake's jaw clenched. "Naruto's just hasn't spent a lot of time with me lately, because of Sasuke and the Invasion—"

"Don't make excuses, Hatake," Jiraiya growled. "You tried to get _Ebisu _to train Naruto. _Ebisu, _Hatake. You've never cared about him. The only reason you're trying so hard to train is because you can't stand failure; you can't _stand_ that you couldn't make one happy Genin team, no matter how much promise they showed. Sandaime tried to have a remake of Team Minato, but it didn't work, so let it go. Team 7 never was anything like Team Minato, and it never would be." Jiraiya scoffed, "You're useless, Hatake, no matter how much genius you possesses. I'll see you at the Mansion, Tsunade."

With those final words, Jiraiya leapt out the same window he'd come through, and headed back, presumably, to wherever he'd left Naruto.

Hatake stared at the spot that Jiraiya had previously occupied.

Tsunade glanced at the clock on her desk.

"…Sandaime-sama told me, when he asked me to take them, that he believed that I was the best one to teach them because I knew the type of team well," Hatake said, speaking quietly. "I had thought that he would have me teaching a tracking-oriented team, like all the others he'd had me test. But he knew best, so I followed his lead."

"Sensei was a great man," Tsunade answered, "but even he made mistakes. Sometimes, we forget that just because he used to wear this hat, he wasn't a god. He was just a man—a brilliant man, without a doubt, but a man nonetheless."

"I truly thought I was doing what was best for them," Hatake said lamely.

Tsunade nodded, as she tapped the two forms again.

Slowly, the grey-haired man pulled out a pen and the forms. When he was done, he bowed slightly to the older woman and left. He didn't pull his book out till he was outside of the Hokage Tower.

* * *

_He sat on the Hokage's monument. The unrelenting stone beneath him was warm from the touch of the sun. Below him, the village lived and breathed—villagers ran hither and thither on the streets, their ninja protectors watching over the_

_m from the rooftops._

_He turned, and smiled. Beside him was Sakura, who smiled brightly at him. "You're my best friend, you know that, Naruto?" she said. "I'm really sorry you have to leave, but I'll wait for you, okay? We'll save Sasuke together, and we'll be Team 7, again."_

_He grinned, nodding. "I made a promise, Sakura-chan. I'll bring Sasuke back home, for sure!"_

_Wind rustled, and stirred. It roared one second, and whistled the next. It pulled at his pants and jacket, and then pushed it from behind. He stood in an empty clearing, trees surrounding him. Some of the trees were young, though, and swayed this way and that with the wind, their branches turning wildly. There were several old trees, their trunks thick and hard. They did not sway as much as the younger trees, but their branches moved, half-heartedly, with the wind._

_Sakura was gone, replaced by Sasuke—a gray-skinned, Sharingan-spinning, hand-like wings, curse-seal Sasuke._

"_Why didn't you save me, Naruto?" the black haired boy asked, nearly snarling out his question. "You loser, why are you always so _weak_? Why couldn't you have been stronger? I thought that you were going to become the _best Hokage_. How can you be the best Hokage if you can't even save me, huh, Naruto?"_

_A crying Sakura suddenly appeared, too. She knelt on the ground, harsh sobs shaking her entire body._

"_Look, Naruto," Sasuke said, pointing a clawed finger at her. "You've made her cry. You've made your _precious Sakura-chan_ cry because of you're so useless. You couldn't save me—you couldn't keep your promise to Sakura—and now you've made her cry."_

_Sasuke disappeared and changed into an angered Kakashi. "You're a disappointment. You can't do _one _thing right, can you, Naruto? Everything I tried to teach you, you never learned it because you _didn't want to learn it, _isn't that right? You never put _any _effort into anything, and now—now, look at you. You've failed _the most important _mission of your _career, _nearly had your _entire team killed_, and you couldn't save your own teammate." Kakashi scoffed, turning away from him. "You were always just a waste of my time."_

_Kakashi morphed into Jiraiya. "I don't want an idiot or a lazy asshole like you for an apprentice. Sasuke would've been better. He would've saved you, if you'd left the village. He's a better ninja, better than you'd ever _hope _to be. He would've been a better _Hokage_ than you!"_

_Sakura rose from her kneeling position on the ground. She faced Naruto, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "Naruto, you couldn't bring me back Sasuke-kun. Why couldn't you bring my back Sasuke? I thought he was like a brother to you; I thought he was your best friend, Naruto. I thought we were all one big family. Why couldn't save your brother?"_

"_Why couldn't you save your brother?"_

_The clearing faded away, but Sakura's voice still echoed through his mind, "Why couldn't you save your brother? Why couldn't you save your brother?" A dark laugh drifted towards him, crescendoing* till it drowned even Sakura's voice, and he stood ankle-deep in sewer water in front of a great cage._

_A tag floated on the top of the water—ripped. _

_The cage was empty of the large Kyuubi, and in its place was himself—a red-eyed, nine-tailed, distorted version of himself. The red-eyed version of himself grinned widely, showing his fang-like teeth, and it laughed. "Two become one, and one becomes two," it said, its voice deep and throaty. "But one is always weaker. One shall overcome, and it shall not be YOU!"_

_His Kyuubi-self suddenly flashed forward, his cage a broken heap of bars, his hand a claw that swiped down towards his thro—_

Naruto woke gasping for breath as if he was drowning. His heart hammered against his chest, and sweat dripped down his forehead. He looked around him—he was in his room at the Hokage Mansion.

He could make the vague shapes of the dresser that stood against the far wall, of the floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the village when it wasn't covered by the curtains, of the shelves that held his scrolls…

He was safe here.

He was safe here…

He had to get out of this blasted room. He threw his feet over the edge of the bed and crept as quietly as he could out of the room. He thanked Kami that none of the floorboards that he'd stepped on creaked.

In the room next to his, Jiraiya snored.

The man might be an idiot and a pervert, but there was no doubt (okay maybe _just a little _doubt) in his mind that Jiraiya would wake the second that he heard a noise that he _shouldn't _be hearing.

Unless Baa-chan drugged him again.

Naruto suppressed a giggle as he crept down the hall and out towards the courtyard that Jiraiya had him practicing taijutsu in constantly. The silver moonlight bathed every corner of the courtyard with its light.

Silently, he began moving through the katas that Jiraiya had taught him.

Time passed, and eventually the silver moonlight darkened. The sky changed from midnight black to violet-red, and the sun rose. Pink mixed with pastel purples and oranges.

A new day had dawned, and Naruto collapsed into sleep on the courtyard floor.

* * *

A/N: Alright here's the new chapter. I know it's been like...forever since I've updated, and I'll TRY to get a little faster, but I've just been blocked. *Sigh* Everything I write seems so stupid....oh well. The usual questions, yeah? You know them already, and you all know how to reach me.


	6. Chapter 6

If I owned Naruto, my parents would KILL me.

* * *

Chapter 6

"Wake up, brat! You've got packing to do!"

"Wha—Ero-Sennin?" Naruto just barely lifted his head off his pillow. "What's going on?"

"Kakashi finally signed the papers," Jiraiya answered grabbing the blonde's bag from off the floor. He threw it onto the bed, going through the stuff on the shelves. "Oi, is any of this stuff important? 'Cause if it isn't, then you shouldn't carry any extra weight, and I'm not planning on sealing anything for you."

"I thought we were just going to some mountain," Naruto answered as he kicked off his blanket.

Jiraiya rifled through the scrolls, saying absentmindedly, "There might be a time when we'll need to leave the Mount Myobokuzan. You never know—Tsunade might need us to check out some things. Maybe I'll take you to meet my contacts. You'll be taking over my spy system eventually."

His feet hanging over the edge of his bed, Naruto asked while he rubbed his eyes, "How'd I get here?"

Jiraiya stopped searching through the scrolls to sneer, "You walked up the stairs, I assume, unless you've taken my idea and you've started coming in from the window."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at the older shinobi. "I was outside. I remember I was training and then…I don't know. Did you bring me up here?"

Jiraiya scoffed, "_Please!_ I would've just left you there."

Rolling his eyes, Naruto muttered to himself that the old man most likely _would _have just left him. He got out of bed, grabbed the clothes he'd worn the day before, and headed for the bathroom. "When are we leaving?" Naruto asked over his shoulder.

"Sometime in the afternoon," Jiraiya called. "So hurry it up, gaki!"

"Bah! Why hasn't Baa-chan thrown you off a cliff or something?"

Jiraiya snorted to himself, "She's already done that."

* * *

"Tsunade-sama, Hatake-san is here," Shizune said.

"Thank you, Shizune. Send him in," Tsunade answered.

The day before had been a bit of a disaster; because of Jiraiya and Hatake's little spat, nothing but Naruto's and Sakura's apprenticeship forms had been signed. On top of that, Hatake most likely disliked her even _more_ than before. How was she to earn the trust of the ninja under her if Jiraiya kept fighting with everyone disagreed with her?

Hatake walked into the office. She had to give it to him, he walked in as if the day before had never happened. He walked, as every other shinobi walked, which was really a dangerous mix of stealth and deceptive grace. He never took his eyes off of her, as he made his way into the empty seat in front of the desk.

"Thank you for coming on time, Hatake-san," Tsunade said.

Hatake answered shortly, "I had no choice. When the Hokage calls, her shinobi must obey."

She licked her lips before speaking. "Yes, well, I, first, wanted to apologize to you about Jiraiya yesterday. He gets…he just doesn't like people talking about Naruto too much. It's a sensitive subject for him right now. Especially with what happened with the Uchiha."

"How is he? Naruto, that is?" Hatake asked. "I haven't seen him since I returned from my mission, and it wasn't for very long."

"He's doing well," Tsunade answered. "He's living with me at the Hokage Mansion, now. I was afraid to let him stray too far with what happened with the Gaara of the Sand, and the Uchiha. And it was easier to monitor his health if he lived in the same place as me."

"Good…good," Hatake murmured. "He doesn't like to be smothered, though, so you want to be sure that you're monitoring his health and not mothering him too much. He grew up with nothing, so he's very independent. He thinks that he's an adult half the time, and a child the other half." Hatake chuckled a bit. "He's going through an identity crisis, I think."

"Probably because he's just realizing everything," Tsunade answered, suddenly angry. "He's probably realized what a burden the Kyuubi truly is, and what people think of when they hear the word 'Jinchuuriki.' If he's going through an identity crisis, it's because you didn't help him in any way to deal with the Kyuubi. It's one of the many ways why you weren't a good Jounin-sensei."

Hatake narrowed his eye. "I was trying to keep them human, _Godaime-sama_ "I was trying to keep them _children_, and not murderers. If I ignored the Kyuubi it is because I _had _to. Any mention of the Kyuubi would have destroyed what joy Naruto had. He already had enough to deal with, why should I add more? All I wanted was to help them achieve their dreams. Yes, I _know _I'm not the world's best teacher, but at least I _tried_."

"You didn't try hard enough," Tsunade retorted. "Even Jiraiya could have taught them better—and he's a damned idiot. Anyone would have been a better teacher. At least they would have noticed there was something wrong with the Uchiha."

Hatake rose from the chair so fast, it fell backwards. "Do tell me, Hokage-sama, where you were when Naruto was poisoned on his first mission? Tell me where was Jiraiya! Tell me where every other goddamned idiot who would have been a better sensei to those three were! Where were you when Sasuke saw Itachi for the first time in _years_ and lost, _overwhelmingly lost,_ to him? Where were you when Sakura's heart was broken? Where were you when all three of them finally realized what it meant to be a ninja?" Kakashi glared at the older woman. "I did my best, and _no one _can say anything. I wish I could have done better for them, _but I did_ _my best._"

Tsunade licked her lips before saying, "Your best wasn't good enough, I'm afraid." Her hands were clenched tightly, and her blue eyes were wide as she realized the truth behind Hatake's words.

"I regret every mistake that I made with them," Hatake answered. "I could have been more forceful with Sasuke; I could have been more hands on with Naruto; I could have trained Sakura more. I could have done _so _much more with them, but I didn't, because I didn't know. I should have known…I should have known that Sasuke was a flight risk, and that Naruto would go after him. I should have known that Sakura would be left behind feeling guilty, feeling as if it was all her fault that both her teammates are out of her reach. I should have known so much more…but I didn't." Kakashi collapsed into the chair. "I should have been there for them more. I should have…I could have been better to them in so many ways. You don't have to tell me that I made mistakes—I already know. But, at least, I tried. At least, I was there for them. At least I was there for all three of them, not just Naruto."

The door to the office opened slightly, and Shizune popped her head in. "Is everything alright in here, Tsunade-sama? I heard something fall." She looked suspiciously at Hatake who was hovering angrily over her desk.

"We're alright here, Shizune," Tsunade answered, never taking her eyes away from Hatake.

"Alright, if you're sure," Shizune murmured, leaving.

Tsunade turned away from the grey-haired Jounin as soon as the door closed. "You know, Hatake, the job of a Hokage is one full of regrets, according to the Third, that is. It is a job where you wonder if the decisions you made yesterday will destroy the village, or help it tomorrow. It is a job where you can't help but regret _everything_, because everything and everyone in the village is a part of you. Every life lost, every career ended is blow to yourself because the shinobi are parts of you. Like you said, you have regrets, and if you didn't have them, then you would have become the very thing you didn't want Team 7 to become—a murderer, and not a shinobi of Konoha." She turned back to Hatake. "I asked you here today, not to talk to you about Naruto and Sakura, but to offer you a better job. You're not really suited for training Genins; you have skills that Konoha needs right now." She paused for a moment, before turning to face him again. "I want you to be the Head of the ANBU Corps. You'll be in charge of all five departments, and you'll work directly for me.

"Will you do it, Hatake-san? Will you lay down your life for Konohagakure no Sato, Hatake Kakashi, and serve in the shadows for her? Will you take up the Will of Fire, and become my right hand?"

There was silence in the office for a full minute.

Hatake's eye widened at the offer, and his hands clenched tightly over his knees. Finally, he asked, "Wouldn't—isn't there someone better suited for that? I mean, I was just a Captain, I—they would never…"

"The Department Heads would never veto the appointment if it came straight from the Hokage's desk. Since you are one of their own, the Heads would all feel comfortable with you." Tsunade smiled. "There's no one more suited to the job, Hatake-san. I thought about it carefully."

"But…Kami, there's Tenzo, there's Ibiki—hell, even Anko might be better!" Hatake exclaimed.

Tsunade sighed. "I truly wonder if you understand what I'm asking, Hatake-san." She sat straighter in her desk chair, and leaned closer. "I'm asking you to take control of the ANBU Corps., to rebuild it in a sense. I'm asking you to go over with me the most important information that concerns this village. I'm asking you to be my secret advisor—the one person who I can trust to speak frankly with me. I'm asking you to be right hand in everything I do, to help me make the decisions for the village. I'm asking you, because I know that you will regret not speaking up, not telling me that you think that I'm an idiot because you care about every life that is lost. If you didn't, you wouldn't be suited for the job, and I wouldn't be asking you."

Hatake ran his hand through his hair. "I think you're crazy, Hokage-sama, but…I'll do it."

* * *

"Sakura! Sakura-chan!" Naruto waved his hand widely, running towards her. "I've been looking all over for you! Kakashi-sensei's signed the form! I'm leaving!"

Sakura whipped around so fast, her short hair flew widely in the air. Beside her, Ino's wide eyes grew to the size of saucers. "He finally signed the apprenticeship papers? I'm so glad for you, Naruto!" She wrapped her arms around the smaller blonde for a quick hug, grinning widely at him. "Does Jiraiya-sama know?"

"Wait a sec'," Ino interrupted. "What forms? Where're you going Naruto?"

Catching his breath, Naruto said, "Oh, hi Ino. I didn't see you there."

"Naruto's been offered to be apprenticed to Jiraiya-sama of the Dentetsu no Sannin, and just like I've been offered an apprenticeship with Tsunade-sama. We've both been waiting for Kakashi-sensei's okay on all of this, though."

"And he's been against it?" Ino asked.

Naruto snorted. "He's against change, _I _think."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "He's not against change. He's just seriously worried about us, Naruto. He wants to weigh his options, and decide what's best for us. It's what any Jounin-sensei would do, really."

"But if it's with one of the Dentetsu no Sannin, like you said…"Ino trailed off. "Wait a minute! How'd you score an apprenticeship with the Godaime, Sakura?"

"I asked Tsunade-sama to take me as her apprentice after I saw what they did at the hospital," the pink-haired Genin answered matter-a-factly, "and she said yes. Jiraiya-sama's been training Naruto since before the Chuunin Exams, and he wanted to make it permanent, I guess."

"Wow," Ino murmured. "You guys are all getting stronger." She smiled at them. "I guess I'm going to have start training really hard if I want to keep up."

Naruto laughed. "It won't be long before I'll be Hokage! Just you wait!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Naruto. I'll help you pack. I'll see you later, Ino." She waved goodbye with one hand, as she dragged Naruto by his wrist towards to the Hokage Mansion."

"Bye, Ino!" Naruto shouted, waving his hand wildly.

* * *

Ino raced to where she knew that Shikamaru and Chouji would be watching clouds. "Have you guys heard? Naruto's leaving! Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin is apprenticing him!"

* * *

"Kami help me," Naruto murmured as he watched Sakura go through all of his clothes, folding them neatly into piles. "I'm going to _die._"

"Oh, hush up, Naruto," Sakura said, as she gathered up some of the clothes and placed them neatly in his backpack. "I've seen you're idea of 'packing.' It's more like you grab random stuff and stuff into this thing, and then you're whining that you forgot something."

"I don't whine!" Naruto shouted, scowling.

"You _whine,_" Jiraiya answered for Sakura as he sat in the corner watching the pink-haired girl. "You whine if you don't get ramen, if you don't get a break _for _ramen, if you're ramen's cold—"

"I do not whine," Naruto said pouting slightly.

* * *

"Asuma-sensei, have you heard? Naruto's leaving!" Chouji exclaimed, around a mouthful of barbeque.

Asuma quirked a brow. "Really? Where to?"

Shikamaru answered. "Apparently Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin made Naruto his new apprentice, and they're leaving later today."

"I heard it from Sakura and Naruto," Ino said proudly.

"Hmmm…" Asuma murmured, nodded absentmindedly.

* * *

"I've got to see Baa-chan, Sakura-chan," Naruto said as he watched Sakura finally finish packing. Her meticulous way of folding every article of clothing (even his boxer shorts!) amazed him. She didn't seem to mind at all that she was touching any of his clothes, though he was sure that if they'd been reversed, and if _he'd _been the one packing up her clothes, he would have had blushed as much as Ero-Sennin did when he caught a glimpse of something even vaguely perverted.

"Alright," Sakura answered. "You're officially ready to go off to Kami knows where."

"He's going to a mountain to be surrounded by frogs," Jiraiya-sama said from his place in the corner. "He's not going off to Earth Country, for Kami's sake. I don't know what you and Hatake seem think about Naruto's future training."

"I'm not saying or asking anything, Jiraiya-sama," Sakura answered. "I'm just saying that if anything happens, or you need to go somewhere that's so completely unlike Konoha, then Naruto's prepared."

"I don't know why you care so much," Naruto drawled, from where he was sprawled out on his bed.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I care because we're a team, even if we've been disbanded. As your teammate, I'm forced to take of care you."

"In other words," Jiraiya said, teasingly, "she thinks you're incompetent."

"What!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping from the bed.

"No I don't!" Sakura scoffed. "Why would I think you're incompetent? You live by yourself most of the time; you're as competent as boys come, domestically."

"What's domestically mean?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya snorted. "She means that you'd be the perfect catch for any girl—you can cook, clean, and do the laundry. If you put on an apron, some boy might think that you're actually a girl!"

"Jiraiya-sama, don't tease him!" Sakura pleaded, trying hard not to grin.

* * *

"Kurenai…have you heard that Jiraiya-sama's taken Uzumaki as his apprentice?" Asuma asked casually.

The red-eyed kunoichi glanced at him, before turning back to her team. They were putting Kiba and Akamaru through their paces now that they'd been given the OK from the medics at the hospital. She knew that they would be listening in as they usually did, but she trusted their discretion.

"Oh? That's interesting," she said. "Hinata, you're overreaching again."

"Apparently they're leaving today."

"Naruto's leaving?" Kiba asked, suddenly, before gasping for breath when Shino landed a strike in his gut. Hinata, wide-eyed and sweaty, turned pleadingly to her sensei.

"Pay attention to your spar, Kiba," Kurenai snapped.

"Ne, sensei, aren't you always telling me to be aware of my surroundings, too?" Kiba said grinning, as he leaned heavily on his knees, still panting.

She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "I think that it's time for laps." She ignored Asuma's grinned as they left.

* * *

"I _need_ to see Baa-chan!"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at the door. Could that be…? No. It couldn't. He should be packing his things at this moment, getting ready to leave for Mt. Myobokuzan.

Suddenly, the door to her office burst open. Naruto marched in, Shizune and one of her secretaries arguing behind him. The guards at the door looked at her questioningly, one of them reaching to grasp Naruto's shoulder.

She waved them off. "He can stay," she said.

The guards nodded, and one of them closed the door. The arguing in the anteroom died off immediately.

"What can I do for you, Naruto?" she asked.

"Were you the one?" he asked, staring seriously at her.

"Was I the one what?" she asked back.

"Were you the one that brought me back up this morning?" Naruto demanded. "I was out training last night—_I remember that—_and then I fell asleep. Then, this morning, I'm in my bed, when I'm _sure_ that I never left the courtyard. I asked around, everyone said that they saw me, and decided to just leave me there. So, were you the one? Did you bring me to my room?"

"Why are you so obsessed with finding out?" she asked, flipping through a report. "I'm a busy person, you know that? I'm doing the job _you _wanted me to do, and really, what time would I have to bring up a little brat too stupid to know that he _shouldn't_ sleep on the floor outside to his bedroom—the same bedroom that I had the staff at the Mansion slave over for you?"

"I want to know because…because all this time I thought you were still mad at me." Naruto dropped into the empty chair. "I thought…that after… after my report about the mission…and…"

Tsunade snapped the folder shut. "You thought that I was mad? At what?"

"I failed you. I failed all of you. I made a promise, and I said that I never go back on my promises. I said that I would bring Sasuke back." Naruto looked down at his hands. "I knew that you wouldn't be the same after I told you…I just thought that you were…hiding it. Like everybody else does."

"Hiding what? You did your best, Naruto." Tsunade got out of her seat, went around her desk, and knelt down in front him. "Naruto, I couldn't have been prouder of you. You did what many couldn't—you withstood torture, you have withstood the loss of your teammate in a much better way than _I _or even Jiraiya did." Tsunade grabbed his hands. "I couldn't be more proud of the ninja you have become."

Naruto glanced up at her. "You did it again."

"Did what?"

"You touched me. No one ever touches me. The Third used to now and then, but…"

"Why wouldn't anyone touch you?"

"'Cause I'm the vessel for the Kyuubi. No one wants to touch the monster."

Tsunade sighed. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I don't think that you're a monster, Naruto. You may be the vessel for the Kyuubi, but you're still a person, and you deserve everything that anybody else does." She pushed back, and smiled brightly at him. "Now, have you finished packing?"

* * *

It was sundown at the northern gates. Neji sighed to himself as he glanced around. The entire Retrieval Team was waiting around him—Inuzuka and his dog, Nara and Akimichi. Lee and Tenten were there as well, besides Yamanaka, Aburame, and Hinata-san. Hatake-san and Gai-sensei were both leaning against the check-in station. The other Genins (and the sole Chuunin) lounged waiting.

Sighing, he threw a glance towards the road. It was emp—no, wait. There. The spot of orange. Uzumaki Naruto.

"He's here," he murmured, just loud enough for Lee and Tenten, who were both closest to him, to hear and begin shouting it to others with them.

Sure enough, Uzumaki came bounding down the road, chattering with Haruno. Behind them were Godaime-sama and her assistant, and Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin. Haruno looked a bit red, as if she had been crying, but both she and Uzumaki were grinning.

Probably making promises to one another that they would become stronger.

Uzumaki shouted and waved at them, as he sprinted over to them. "Hey guys! I didn't know you were going to be here!"

"Yosh! Naruto-kun, we came to say goodbye to you!" Lee shouted, also waving widely.

"Fuzzy Brows! And Panda Girl! And Neji! Hey, Kiba, Shikamaru, Hinata, Shino!" Naruto treated them all to his usual thousand-bolt smile.

"Bah, gaki, stop being so loud!" Jiraiya grumbled, as he, Godaime-sama, Godaime-sama's assistant, and Haruno finally reached them. "Alright, everybody say your goodbyes, and do it quickly. We're late enough as it is."

The Rookies gathered around him first, some giving him encouragement, most just promising to be stronger next time they met. Lee began some rant about springtime of youth that he most likely stole off of Gai-sensei, and Tenten, rolling her eyes, stopped him by wishing Uzumaki good luck. Hatake and Gai-sensei came next, though Uzumaki seemed a little cold when he was saying goodbye to his Jounin-instructor. Finally, Neji came up to the smaller blonde. He held out his hand to him, and said, "To a caged bird—who is smart enough, and will be able to figure out to open the door to its cage with its beak—the dream of flying and breaking free is too great to resist."

Uzumaki blinked. "I hope the caged bird flies free then," he replied, grinning widely. "I hope he flies high into the sky."

"I do too," Neji murmured, nodding. Then he watched the blonde leave. Jiraiya and Uzumaki headed down the road, and then disappeared in a large puff of smoke.

"See you in a few years, Uzumaki," Neji murmured.

* * *

A/N: So, just so we're clear--Ino told Shikamaru and Chouji, who mentioned it to Asuma, who 'casually' told Kurenai, where Hinata overheard and eventually told Neji and his team, and so...as you can see the ending is the result of Ino's big mouth. lol...

So, it's been a productive week and half (is that right?). I finished this chapter, one other chapter, an interlude-type-thingy, and I'm a third-way through the eighth chapter (the interlude count as a chapter because it's an INTERLUDE--a break in the story). I've decided every so often, I'll spit out one of these things. They'll mostly be just character pieces--you get to see character-x doing a bunch of stuff, here their thoughts, and more or less get a feel for who they are in Son of the Sannin. Also, you should know, from here on out, we're in AU-country. I mean...like MAJOR AU-country.

I'll start off softly, but it's going to get INTERESTING. I LOVE Naruto the storyline right now, but this is MY story, not Kishimoto's (sp?).

Anyways, what do you think so far? The line that Neji said was actually quoted directly from the anime. I thought it was appropiate then, and I think it's appropiate now. Naruto--a caged bird in Konoha, though he doesn't know he's caged--is about to free himself. Neji--anothe caged bird--freed himself from most of his anger at the Main Branch at the Chuunin Exams.

So....the usual questions: grammer issues? punctation? something you didn't understand?

LEAVE MEANINGFUL REVIEWS! TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE STORY! TELL ME YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT IT! GIVE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITCISM! lol...

**HOPE YOU LIKE THE CHAPTER, AND HAPPY EASTER!**


	7. Interlude: Blue

I do not own Naruto...there, I said it...

* * *

Interlude: Blue 

Fifty men.

Fifty strong men.

Supposedly, strong, anyways.

Fifty, supposedly strong, dead men.

It was kind of…funny, really. They were once idolized. They were once fathers and brothers. They were once uncles and nephews, lovers and fiancées. They were once breathing, dreaming, living men, and they were all _dead._

Because they were all too weak.

They died because they were too weak. The odds had been in their favor; they _should_ have won. They _should _have defeated him, if numbers were anything. They _believed_ that they could defeat him. But they couldn't.

It was the same with _Him._

With _Itachi._

His clan _should _have defeated him, should have taken him down on that night. Instead, he murdered them. He murdered every single one of them. _They_ were once fathers and brothers. They were once uncles and nephews, and mothers and sisters, and aunts and grandmothers. They were once ninjas…They were once breathing, dreaming, strong men and women. And they were all dead. Itachi didn't even spare the little ones. The ones that couldn't have put up a fight—he killed them all.

Just like he, Uchiha Sasuke, would kill Itachi. Just like he had killed these fifty strong men.

They were supposed to be a test of his strength. If he couldn't defend himself against these men, then he was a waste of Orochimaru's time. If he was a waste of Orochimaru's time, then he deserved to be dead. According to Orochimaru and Kabuto, at least.

Kabuto.

Yakushi Kabuto was Orochimaru's right hand man, but he little more than a rat. He scuttled this way and that trying to please his master. He was weakling compared to Sasuke's strength. He was manipulative; Sasuke _had _to give him that. It was obvious in the way that he had sent Orochimaru's previous apprentice (who'd been near his deathbed), Kimimaro, that he wasn't above sending someone to do his dirty work, that he wasn't above sending _someone else _to die in Orochimaru's name.

While it was true that the rat had trained under Orochimaru and someone by the name of Sasori from Akatsuki, he was a weakling. He depended on his medical justus to fight, and he scrambled about taunting people in that polite tone of his. He baited his opponents, and slipped in through their broken defenses. He didn't fight like a man; he fought like the rat he was. No matter how much Orochimaru trusted him, Sasuke would never trust the white-haired man.

It was funny how he got the feeling that Kabuto didn't really trust him much either.

He seemed to think that he was just using Orochimaru. Of course, it was true. Orochimaru was just a step on the road to defeating Itachi and avenging his clan, but that Kabuto believed that he would do so, that he was only using Orochimaru's training for his own purposes and not for Orochimaru's was…well…it was true, but honestly! The man didn't have to blurt it out every time that he 'disrespected Orochimaru-sama.' It wasn't like Kabuto was totally loyal to Orochimaru.

Kabuto was kind to the Rookies at the Chuunin Exam, helped them out! He healed Hinata before the Invasion began. Hinata was a risk. She was a Hyuuga, no matter how weak. She had the potential to destroy their forces, _if _she got over her fears. It would have been in Orochimaru's best interest to let Hinata die, and quite possibly, found a way to kill Kiba, too.

Kiba was the Heir to the Inuzuka Clan. While they weren't a prominent clan like the Hyuuga or the Uchiha, they were still a large asset to Konoha. Killing Kiba would cause anger in the village as Kiba had already been _named_ as the Clan Heir. With the death of both Hinata, Heir to Clan Hyuuga, and Kiba, Heir to Clan Inuzuka, _and_ the village getting attacked, Konoha would have enough turmoil to cause a civil war.

Instead, Kabuto went against orders and healed Hinata. He even _avoided _them during the Invasion, if Sasuke remembered correctly.

No, if there was a contest of loyalty, Sasuke was the most loyal apprentice. Kabuto, weakling, medic-nin, manipulative Kabuto was divided in his loyalties.

But it didn't really too much to Sasuke about loyalties. He was loyal to his Clan, and that was it. Too many loyalties slow people down. Look at the shinobi of Konoha! Look at _Kabuto!_ He was loyal to Orochimaru, and, in all the times that he had healed Orochimaru, he had never thought to himself, "Now I am better than Orochimaru." No, he just simpered, and said, "Yes, Orochimaru-sama," and made the old man better.

Sasuke was above that. If he was ever given the chance to Orochimaru, he'd do it, simply to prove that he could. Simply to prove that he _was _stronger, that he could defeat someone that couldn't defeat Itachi.

Orochimaru's death would mean that he was one step closer to his goal.

One step closer to killing Itachi.

One step closer to revenge.

And _that _was what really mattered.

_That was all that mattered._

"You killed them?" Orochimaru asked, sounding surprised. "Good. I was afraid that you would just leave them unconscious."

Sasuke glanced up at Orochimaru, and narrowed his eyes. "I'm not soft. I killed them because they were too weak. They didn't _deserve _to live."

Orochimaru smirked. "Yes. That's right. If you hadn't killed them, hadn't killed your emotions, you'd never be strong enough to kill Itachi."

Sasuke narrowed eyes changed into a cold glare. He felt his Sharingan flicker into activation. "I won't show him any mercy, not even if he gets down on his knees and begs for it." He rose, slipped Kusanagi into its sheath, and walked passed Orochimaru. As he did, he heard the man murmur the word "heartless." When he did, he resisted the urge to smirk.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so this isn't REALLY a _chapter-_chapter, but it is a rather important part of the plot, yes? I think so at least, lol...

Anyways, as you can see, Sasuke is a little more heartless here than in canon--this is part of the AU-ness that I said LAST A/N that I would begin to creep up on you guys. In canon, Sasuke left like a hundred or so men unconscious, and Orochimaru told him that he would have to toughen up if he wanted to kill Itachi. I used the ending part of Sasuke's little I-hate-Itachi speech because it was appropriate, and I DO want to keep just a TOUCH of canon at this point.

The next update, which will be a real _chapter_-chapter, will have some more AU-ness, and you guys will get to see our hero once more.

So, even though it's short, I hope you enjoy, and review TONS! Give me all the feedback that you can, because I'm going to be doing more of these later on in the story, from different people, of course.

Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed, even those people who just said "Love the story!" or a variant of that. You guys don't know how much each review encourages me to continue. Thanks a ton.

See y'all in a fortnight!

(fornight's my word of the evening--you like? jocund is another one--brownie points to whoever can tell me what jocund means--lol...)


	8. Chapter 7

I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Chapter 7

"My dear Tora-chan!" the Fire Daimyo's wife exclaimed squeezing a medium-sized red-orange cat with a pink bow on one of its ear tightly to her chest. "I was worried to death about you! Where did you run off to?"

Konohamaru watched the scene before him, his arms crossed over his chest. He stood with his teammates standing on either side of him in the Mission Hall. At the other end of the room sat the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade. To her left was Umino Iruka, his old Academy teacher, and a woman that he didn't know. All three adult looked on with amused looks on their faces. He whispered to his two teammates, Udon and Moegi, "If I were that cat, I'd want to run away too."

Ebisu, his Jounin-sensei, rushed to his side, quietly saying, "Konohamaru-kun!" in that scolding tone he always used. The Fire Daimyo's wife was oblivious to all of this. She told the Godaime as she left that the payment for the completed mission was on the table. She continued to coo at the crying cat. Ebisu, now that the large woman was gone, began to scold his team. "Although it was only a lost cat, how many hours did it take?"

Udon whined, "But it was a _really_ fast cat…" He was an average sized boy with a love for math. He wore big, round glasses, and he always looked like he was sleepy. He also had a constant runny nose.

Moegi added "It seemed pretty used to running away." Moegi was just about the same size as Udon, with red-orange hair that defied gravity and stayed standing up in two pigtails. She always a blush on her cheeks, and was generally happy.

Ebisu ignored them, saying, "I will hear no excuses! Currently, you should be able to handle missions of this level in a swifter manner! You're all lack strength!"

"I can't draw on my true power on such lame missions!" Konohamaru scoffed. "I should be doing _much_ cooler missions than chasing some damn cat!" He ignored Moegi's quiet admonishment that he not curse in front of the Hokage. "Iruka-sensei, aren't there any _better_ missions?"

"Konohamaru-kun," Ebisu said, beginning to him again, "you three have only just become Genins. There's no way that you'll be assigned better missions."

Iruka nodded from his seat behind the mission hall. Tsunade-sama added, "It's D-ranks for now, Konohamaru-kun."

Konohamaru dropped the ground, folding his legs Indian-style under him. "I'm not satisfied with that!" he cried. "I'm going to be the Seventh Hokage in the future!"

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow at the young Genin. "The Seventh Hokage?" she asked.

Konohamaru nodded fiercely. "I'll be Naruto-nii-san's successor."

* * *

Naruto leapt forward, grasped the tree branch in front of him, and then used it to swing himself onto another one some six feet away. Chakra glued his feet to the branch for half a second, and then gave him strength to jump forward again so that the process could be repeated again. A few feet above him was his Master and Father, Jiraiya.

It was amazing to think that a little less than three years before, he couldn't bring himself to think of the man as anything more than his sensei. Now, he thought of him as his father, as the man that showed him the world, the man that opened his eyes. Jiraiya was his Master, his trainer, his seal expert, his…Kami, Jiraiya was everything. If he needed a question answered, if he felt himself lost, if he needed _any sort _of guidance, Jiraiya was more than happy to help. And the best part was, he was never overbearing or annoying in the way that he did it. Jiraiya was more carefree, and thought that if he did anything differently than the way that Jiraiya suggested that it made an interesting reaction.

Jiraiya was a better dad than Naruto would have thought.

Tsunade was the complete opposite. She mothered him, beat on Jiraiya if Naruto made a (in her opinion) stupid decision, or acted remotely perverted. Naruto _loved _listening to her talk, to hear her ideas and advice. She was a little biased, but in a good way. She was open with him, letting him hear her regrets and lost dreams. She had a twisted, sort of patriotic, loyalty to Konoha, but she, and she told him this in (drunken) total confidence, loved each of the men and women that served under her for the good of the village.

In his opinion, Tsunade truly _was_ the best candidate for Hokage, because she cared about the shinobi under her, and worried over every decision she made.

The fact that she complained _constantly _about the job was irrelevant.

Naruto glanced up to see that Jiraiya was no longer keeping pace with him, but was starting lag behind. He grinned widely. "Getting old, Ero-Tou-san?" he teased. "Too slow to keep up with me?" He stopped one of the branches.

"Shut up, you little gaki!" Jiraiya said, panting. "We've been running since this morning! I'm _tired._"

"I _told_ you that we could've just had Fukasaku-sama reverse summon us to the mountain and then to the village."

"And _I told you_ that Fukasaku doesn't like me as much since that time in Rain."

"He still insulted that you took Shima's side?"

"Yeah." Jiraiya shook his head. "I'm never taking part in one of their arguments."

"Hmm." Naruto grinned mischievously, and asked, "Wanna race? You take Gamaken, and I go on foot. Winner has to tell Kaa-chan that we went gambling without her."

Jiraiya grinned, and jumped from branch to branch to the ground floor. "Perfect. I'll see you at the Hokage Tower. I can't lose this way!"

* * *

Two and a half years.

They had passed achingly slowly for Sakura. Nearly three years of loneliness and heartache, of missions with different teams, of hard training, of wishing for a lost family back.

Sakura had grown in more ways than she'd imagined. Once she'd been a petite, flat-chested, vain, naïve Genin; now, she was an average sized Chuunin, apprenticed to the Godaime Hokage herself, and a damn good medic. She was told numerous times by Ino that she was beautiful, and that half the village boys wanted a date with her (the other half wanted to date Ino, of course), but she always laughed. Didn't they know that her heart was already set on one (lost) boy?

In the past two and a half years since Naruto and Sasuke had left, though, she was still without a team. Just before Naruto had left, Tsunade-shishou had disbanded Team 7. Kakashi had taken a position as the Head of the ANBU Corps, so, while he stayed at the village more often, he was usually working at the secretive ANBU Training Facility, while she moved from team to team on missions. Of course, because she was a medic-nin, and there was always a shortage of _good,_ active medic-nins, she would be required to move from to team to team as needed. But it would've been nice to come home to a waiting team…It would have nice to have Sasuke-kun, and Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei all together again just like when she'd been fresh faced (petiteflat-chestedvainnaive) Genin.

Kami-sama, she hadn't thought about _that_ in ages!

_Kami-sama, _she felt old, and she was only _fifteen!_ There must be some kind of law against fifteen year olds feeling like they were fifty.

Sighing, she glanced down. In her hands she held Tsunade-shishou's schedule/agenda. It was amazing really. In _her_ white, slightly calloused and scarred hands, she held the most important person in the village's life. She could write that the day after tomorrow Tsunade-shishou had to be in the hospital for two hours, instead of off being wherever it is that Tsunade-shishou went every second Friday night of the month.

Hmm.....

What was it that Tsunade-shishou did every month? Frowning, she flipped the pages backwards until she found the same date. There was no label other than the characters for 'fox' and 'toad.' _Obviously,_ it was code for something else. 'Toad' might be Jiraiya-sama, but he and Naruto were both away on a training trip! No one knew for certain where they were! Tsunade-shishou had told her this herself. And what could 'fox' mean, anyway? Could it be Naruto? Why would Tsunade-shishou name Naruto 'fox'? Could she…be…Could Tsunade-shishou have _feelings _for Naruto?

"Sakura?"

Snapping the agenda shut, she whirled around. "Yes, shishou?" she asked, alert, trying to hide the guilt that she suddenly felt for thinking inappropriate things about her master. "Do you need anything?"

Tsunade-shishou smiled at her, before saying, "It's a beautiful day outside. Run to the gate and get me the afternoon report." The blonde haired Hokage hadn't aged a bit in the time that Jiraiya-sama and Naruto had been gone. If anything, on some days, she looked younger.

"Of course, shishou." She bowed her head minutely, before heading out of the door. She considered running over the rooftops of the houses and buildings, thus getting to the gates faster, but it _was _a beautiful day today, and shishou wanted her to enjoy it while she could, right?

* * *

"Hahahahaha! You're so slow, Tou-san," Naruto shouted excitedly as he raced passed Jiraiya and Gamaken. You'll never catch up to me!"

"You little cheat!"Jiraiya shouted as his son ran past them. "Hurry, Gamaken! I'm not getting stuck with telling Tsunade we went gambling without her! She'll beat the crap out of me!"

Gamaken grumbled as he jumped forward again. This was _not_ how you were supposed to treat battle toads!

* * *

Sakura sighed as she glanced around at the sights and people around her. It had been a while since she had the chance to just walk through the village. It was nice to see everything and everyone again.

"I don't get him! He keeps telling us that we're stronger than usual Genin, and then he tells us that we're weak!"

Sakura paused for a moment. That sounded so much like…but it couldn't be! He was an Academy student, right?

"It's alright. You'll see, in time, he'll see your strength. _Everyone _in the village will!"

"Yeah—_sniff_—especially when nii-chan comes back. _Sniff—_He'll be so proud that we made Genin!"

Could it be Naruto's little fan club, the Konohamaru Corps?

"Konohamaru-chan? Moegi-chan? Udon-chan?" Sakura called, whirling around, trying to find where their voices were coming from. There—several feet behind her on the opposite side of the street, the three children, now Genins as Sakura could tell from the headbands wrapped proudly around their foreheads, were gaping at her.

"Sakura-san?" Moegi asked.

"Wow, Sakura-san," Konohamaru exclaimed. "Forget about nii-chan! I'm goin' to be the Seventh Hokage, wanna go out with me?"

"Konahamaru-kun!" Moegi accused, slapping the boy's shoulder while Udon snickered a little before wiping his dripping nose.

Chuckling to herself, Sakura crossed the street to join them. "Look at you! You're Genin now? I thought you were still studying at the Academy!"

Moegi said proudly, "We finished early. We're Team Ebisu, now, Sakura-san!"

Grinning mischievously, Sakura answered, "Not the Konohamaru Corps., anymore?"

Konohamaru grunted, rolling his eyes. Udon smiled, "Moegi and I thought that it was time to grow up, but Konohamaru-kun still thinks we should be called the Konohamaru Corps. Ebisu-sensei put his foot down though."

Sakura laughed. "Where are you guys heading?"

"Anywhere _you_ wanna go, I'll go, Sakura-_chan_," Konohamaru answered sweetly.

Sakura rolled her eyes, while Moegi glared dangerously at the boy. "Wanna come with me to the gate? Tsunade-sama wants me to get the afternoon report for her."

"Sure!"

* * *

"I WIN!" Naruto roared, landing some feet past the gate. He heard Gamaken grumble something about battle toads shouldn't be used in races, and then puff out of existence. He turned to grin tauntingly at his father. "_You old fart! _I let you ride on a _toad,_ and you _still_ lose!"

Jiraiya snarled, "You used that stupid jump technique, didn't you? Or you used Sage chakra!" He made his way past Naruto, nodded at the two Chuunin guards who stood awed in their small station, and continued down the road towards the Hokage Tower.

"I didn't use _anything_ outside of my usual chakra," Naruto said proudly. "Just admit it—I'm faster and all around better than you. It's okay to do it; the younger generation is _supposed _to be better than the older one."

Jiraiya glared. "C'mon, let's just hurry up and see Tsunade."

"Wanna race again?"

* * *

Laughing, Sakura stopped in front of the check-in station at the gate. "I'm here for the afternoon report," she said. The ninja stationed there nodded and started rifling around inside.

Konohamaru leaned against the station. "So, Sakura-_chan_, are you busy this Friday? I've got enough money for an all-you-can-eat-ramen-fest. I was gonna take Moegi and Udon, but…you wanna go with me? It'll be our first date!"

Sakura smiled at the younger boy. "That's sweet, Konohamaru-chan, but I don't think Moegi-chan, here, will like that, right?"

Moegi nodded as she glared at her teammate. Behind her, Udon just rolled his eyes. Konohamaru had been trying to flirt with Chuunin the entire time that they'd walked together. Moegi, of course, kept getting angrier and angrier at the boy with each attempt. Sakura-san, however, just laughed at Konohamaru, always joking with him that Moegi-chan might not like it.

"Here you go, Sakura-san," the ninja at the station said. "Oh, by the way, will you tell Hokage-sama that Jiraiya of the Sannin and his apprentice, Uzumaki-san, have both arrived."

Sakura paused and stared wide-eyed at the ninja. "N-naruto's here?" she whispered, before running straight for the Hokage Tower. Behind her, Team Ebisu tried to keep pace, but she just jumped to the rooftops to reach the Tower faster. Soon enough, she was nothing more than a pink and red streak rushing through the village.

In much less time that it had taken her to get to the gate, she reached the Hokage Tower. The secretary in front of the office tried to stop her, but Sakura ignored the woman, choosing instead to burst through the red double doors.

Inside, Tsunade-shishou was sitting behind her desk as usual. Beside her, looking exactly as she remembered him, was Jiraiya-sama. Gushing as she looked at a necklace was Shizune. In front of her, with his back to Sakura, was a tall man-boy in all black.

"Naruto?" she whispered. Gone was the little boy that she'd known. The boy with wild and spiky blonde hair; the boy who always dressed in a orange jumpsuit; the boy who was always proud of the blue hitai-ite that he wore around his forehead. In his place was this…this _man_. This man whose hair reached the middle of his back; this man who had broad shoulders and thick arms—this man wasn't _her _Naruto, but a new one.

He stilled grinned the same, though. And his eyes still shined brightly. "Hey Sakura-chan. Long time no see, ne?"

She ran forward and hugged him tightly. "You idiot—you never wrote!"

Naruto laughed loudly into her ear, but it was a comforting sound rather than an annoying one. She pushed him back so that she could inspect him better.

"Sakura-chan, I missed you," he said, smiling softly.

"Me too," she answered, returning the smile. "You grew!"

"Yup!" Naruto crowed, leaning back on his heels. "I got you something!" he said, suddenly, pulling out a box from his pocket. He handed it to her, as a light blush suddenly appeared on his face. "It's not much..but…"

She grinned. "Thanks."

"Aw, look at the two lovebirds!"Jiraiya crowed from beside Tsunade-shishou.

"Ah, shaddap, Ero-Sennin!" Naruto grumbled over his shoulder.

Sakura opened the box to see a small wooden pendant in the shape of a sakura flower. As she lifted it out of the box, Sakura noticed that it was attached to a leather string so that she wear as a necklace.

Naruto scratched the back of his neck nervously, saying, "One of the toads at Mt. Myobokuzan taught me how to carve. I just thought…well, you don't have to wear it or anything."

"It's beautiful," she told, smiling brightly. "Help me put it on?" Naruto ducked his head down, and grinned shyly. He was about to slip the necklace around her neck when, suddenly, the door of Tsunade-shishou's office burst open again, and the office was filled with the childish squeals of Team Ebisu greeting Naruto.

* * *

Tsunade looked on as Naruto greeted Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon. They badgered him about training, and convinced him to take them out for ramen later. Sakura laughed loudly and freely with them, and even Shizune seemed happier. Tsunade glanced over at Jiraiya. He couldn't tell the difference because he'd been with Naruto for the past two and half years, and hadn't seen how Sakura had moped for months after Naruto left. He hadn't seen how it hurt Sakura to return home without a team waiting for her. He couldn't tell the difference between the sad and moping Sakura that she'd trained with and this alive Sakura that laughed so freely.

Could _Sakura _tell the difference?

After a while, Naruto and Sakura were the only ones left as Team Ebisu ran off to tell everyone that they could that Naruto was home. They both turned to her attentively.

"Naruto, according to Jiraiya, you're a Sage now, right?" Tsunade asked, thinking, _calculating_.

Naruto nodded. Sakura asked, "A Sage? Of what?"

"It means that I can use natural chakra, now," Naruto answered. "It also means to the Toads, that I am worthy of being their summoner. I am an equal in their eyes. Unlike Ero-Sennin, here."

"Watch it, gaki," Jiraiya grumbled. "I can still beat you."

Naruto snorted. "I'm not too sure about that."

"That was a _race._ It doesn't _count._"

"I'm counting it!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes as she saw the beginnings of one Naruto and Jiraiya's arguments. "Enough, you two," she snapped. "According to Konoha's records, you're still a Genin. Now, you can wait around for the next Chuunin Exam and join a team—"

"What about Sakura-chan?" Naruto interrupted. "I want to take the Exam with her!"

"I've already made Chuunin," Sakura said proudly.

"Really?" Naruto squeaked, looking at her with a new light. "What about everyone else?"

"Everyone's become Chuunin, except for Neji." Sakura teased him lightly, "He's a _Jounin_, now, Naruto. How are you _ever_ going to catch up?"

Naruto pouted at her. "Not fair! You guys didn't wait for me!"

"Excuse me," Tsunade interrupted in a less than amused voice. "I was still talking." When both Naruto and Sakura had given her the appropriate shame-faced looks, she continued. "Now, Naruto, you can take the Chuunin Exam, or you fight several one-on-one battles in front of the Council and myself. Then, we will give you a rank."

"Who would I have to fight?" Naruto asked, seriously thinking it over.

"You're actually going to do this?" Sakura asked incredulously. Naruto nodded silently, not taking his eyes off of Tsunade.

"A Chuunin or two, maybe a Jounin," Tsunade answered. "We'll make it into a sort of…_friendly_ competition. It would be, more or less, like the last part of the Chuunin Exams."

Naruto nodded slowly. "When's the earliest you can set it up for?"

"Tomorrow morning," Tsunade answered.

Naruto grinned. "Alright, tomorrow morning it is. Send me your worst."

* * *

A/N: Okay, so it's more of a filler type thing, but...NARUTO'S BACK! lol...The AU-ness has begun, and it is _rather_ slight here, but it gets more in the next chapter and the next and so on so forth.

Also, I'm VERY VERY sorry about the long update. I WAS going to update on Friday like I usually do, but Friday was the day of my last final (thank God!) and so it ended up being a really busy day. Saturday I spent most of it enjoying the day with my sister (got my hair cut REALLY short too!), and Sunday was Mother's Day so that ended up being really busy.

Hope you like the chapter, the usual questions have been asked (grammar, spelling, and what not), don't forget to review, and see y'all in two weeks!


	9. Chapter 8

I do not own Naruto...how sad...

* * *

Chapter 8

Shikamaru sighed as he looked around himself. Kiba and Akamaru were both some feet away, Kiba murmuring words into the large dog's ear. Neji leaned against the wall just a little farther away, with his eyes closed. Shikamaru knew from experience that just because he had his eyes closed didn't mean that he wasn't watching. Shikamaru had been called in early that morning by the Hokage. Her message had said that he was to report to the old stadium where the final rounds of the Chuunin Exams were held. He thought that she wanted him to work on the security there, but, instead, he found that Kiba and Akamaru, and Neji had all been called there as well. None of them had any idea as to what they were supposed to be doing here. But one didn't ignore the Hokage's orders, not after she had proved herself to be a good leader.

Then, he heard them. Hokage-sama walking into the empty balcony above them, a group of ninjas sitting themselves down in the audience chairs…They weren't alone anymore. The gate that led in from the street opened, and a blonde-haired man entered.

"Hey guys!" he said.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at the man. He seemed familiar… "Naruto?" he asked.

As he got closer, Shikamaru could see the resemblance again. The same bright blue eyes, the lines on his cheeks, the wild blonde hair (though it was longer and tied in a ponytail)—they were all Naruto.

His face was Naruto's, but the body wasn't. Naruto had grown taller. Instead of being the runt of their graduating class, he looked as if he was about the same size as all the other guys. He wore a skin-tight, sleeveless, black turtleneck underneath a dull silver-white breastplate. White bandages were wrapped around his arms from his fingertips to the middle of his biceps. On only his left hand, he wore a black glove. Two red belts, holding bags that were closed, crisscrossed his hips. His black pants were stuffed into the tops of equally black, boots that were similar to ninja sandals, in that, they had the same heel, but they reached to the middle of his calves, and had straps. Around his neck he wore a red forehead protector, a green stone and a wooden pendant that looked like a frog on a leather string.

"Hey Neji, Kiba, Akamaru, Shikamaru," Naruto said, breaking Shikamaru out of his thoughts. "Are you the ones I have to fight?"

"We're _fighting_?" Kiba asked, standing up, and offering his hand to Naruto.

"Didn't Tsunade tell you?" Naruto asked in return, shaking the offered hand.

"Hokage-sama sent a message that we were to show up here," Neji said, "and that is all. She did not give us a reason."

Before Naruto could say anything, Hokage-sama, up in the balcony, called down to them. "Thank you Hyuuga-san, Nara-san, and Inuzuka-san for coming. You three were chosen to fight Uzumaki-san. This will be nothing more than some friendly competition for you gentlemen, but for Uzumaki-san, this will be a fight to showcase his training, and earn himself a rank befitting of that training. I bid you all the best of luck, and ask that whoever wishes to go first stay, while the others come up to stands. Begin when you are ready."

Naruto grinned widely at them. "Now you've got your reason. Who wants to go first?"

Kiba let out a barking laugh, leaning back on his heels. "I've been waiting for this moment since the prelims at the Chuunin Exams _way_ back when! _I'm _going first!"

Shikamaru murmured softly, "This it too troublesome," as towards the stands. Beside him, he heard Neji snort to himself.

* * *

"It's been a while, Kiba," Naruto said conversationally. Kiba had grown in the two years since he'd been gone. He looked mostly the same, except that he'd given up his fur coat for a dark colored trench-coat that he kept buttoned up. "Akamaru's grown a lot since I've been gone."

Kiba glanced at his dog. "Hmm, I see him all the time, I guess I haven't noticed. He _has _grown." Kiba's eyes took a more feral glint, and he grinned widely, showing his sharp canines. "We both have."

Naruto smiled. "That's good, because so have I. Shall we begin?"

Kiba chose not to answer, but, instead, charged straight at the blonde. He pulled out several kunai, jumped, and threw them effortlessly. He dropped quickly to the floor and pounded straight towards Naruto, who had rolled out of the way when he'd thrown the kunais. Akamaru came, soundlessly, from the left. Before Kiba could get close to the blonde, there were suddenly ten blondes running in different directions.

Akamaru caught one in the mid-calf, and it dispersed.

"Kage Bunshin," Kiba muttered under his breath. "Still his best technique, I guess." He glanced around himself. "Damn it, we're surrounded. Can you tell which one's the real one?" he asked Akamaru.

The dog sniffed for a moment, before he whined.

"I didn't think so," Kiba murmured.

"We are all the same, Kiba," one of the Naruto's said. "We have the same body, the same amount of chakra, and even, the same _scent._ You can't tell us apart!"

"That's fine," Kiba said, grinning widely. "We'll just have to fight all of you." Kiba crouched down, his hands moving through handseals quickly. "Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four Legs Technique)," he murmured. Akamaru moved closer to his master.

"Shit!" one of the blonde clones shouted. "He's gonna transform the dog, too! We've gotta attack _now!_"

It was too late.

Two Kiba's were now crouched on the ground. One turned to the left, and attacked the closest clone, the other turned to the right to do the same. Clones jumped forward as their numbers began to dwindle.

An all out brawl ensued.

The two Kiba's stood by themselves, both panting hard. There was no clone, or original in the stadium. One of the Kiba's snarled harshly, while the other sniffed at the air. The second narrowed its eyes for a moment before motioning to the other move quickly.

Three large bullets of fire flew at them from above. While both Kiba's dodged the fire, kunais and shuriken began to rain down upon them as well. Suddenly, a blast of wind blindsided them, and pushed them against the stadium wall.

"Do you yield?" Naruto called.

Panting, the true Kiba searched for where the blonde was hiding. "Come down here and fight like a man!" To the other Kiba, he whispered, "On the wall—do you see him?"

"That's funny coming from the guy who uses his dog to fight his opponents," Naruto answered, laughing. "But alright, I'll come down." Naruto crouched against the wall, leaning his arms against it. Then, suddenly, he pushed forward with his arms, and jumped, feet first. He went farther than Kiba would have thought. But for himself, and for Akamaru, it was the perfect opportunity. He got down to the ground and ran forward, his previous jutsu giving him more speed. He was on top of the blonde in seconds.

Kiba punched him with his right, and followed up with a claw-strike with his left. He blocked Naruto' attempt to protect himself, and covered his chest with his arms. Kiba let out a hard kick with his left leg, dodged to the right, and swiped with his right claw. Naruto tried to grab him, but Kiba jumped backwards, kicking with his legs.

His mind screamed instructions, while his instincts moved his body.

Dodge.

Dodge.

Roll.

Sweeping kick.

_Damn, he jumped. _

Pounce.

_Damn, he dodged. _

Right punch, left claw.

Block.

Block.

_Why's he jumping back?_

Pounce forward, dodge his kick.

Roll to the left, sweeping kick.

Dammit_, he jumped again! Where the fuck is Akamaru?_

Kiba glanced to the right for a second, and Naruto took that second to punch him—_hard_—in the face. He stumbled to ground.

"A ninja shouldn't become distracted in the middle of a battle, Kiba," Naruto scolded lightly.

Panting, Kiba pushed himself up to his feet. "Where's Akamaru?"

Naruto grinned mischievously. "He's all tied up at the moment," he answered.

"_Where_?" Kiba demanded. He snarled and charged. "PIERCING FANG!" he roared. He was spinning quickly, dust and wind whirling around him, _hopefully_ cutting his opponent. Finally, the technique ended, and he, panting again, whirled around. There were three Naruto's attached to the wall, holding down a growling Akamaru. Where was the real one? Who cared? He rushed towards Akamaru, intent on saving him, when, suddenly, another gust of wind pushed him to the ground.

There was a pressure on his neck; a line of blood went down it.

"Yield, Kiba," Naruto murmured. "You have fought well, but you and your partner are both separated, and there is no way that you'll be getting out from under me. The fight is over."

Breathing hard, Kiba glared at the blonde, and nodded sharply.

Naruto got off him quickly, and shouted, "He yields." The three clones walked down, carefully, with Akamaru. They let him loose as soon as they touched ground, and Akamaru bounded over to him. Naruto grinned widely at large dog. "You fought well, Akamaru. The both of you have gotten much stronger since I left."

Kiba smiled, "Not strong enough to be you, just yet, but you wait—we'll catch up to you soon enough!"

* * *

Tsunade breathed easily once she saw Kiba heading up to the stands. "You have ten minutes, Uzumaki-san, before you must fight once more," she called from the edge of the balcony. As she sat down, she asked, "What do you think?"

To the left of her were Hyuuga Hiashi, Head of Clan Hyuuga, and Aburame Shibi, Head of Clan Aburame, as representatives of the Clan Council. To her right were Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, members of the Governing Council. Mitokado and Utatane, as members of the Governing Council, usually were the only people who helped the Hokage decide on promotions. But, because this was a special case, two members of the Clan Council were required to ensure that there was no bias in the decision made.

Of course, because promotions were mostly political, bias was _always _part of the decision.

Tsunade tried to get the most rational and unbiased members of the Council, as well the people who had the most hold over the other members of the Clan Council should anyone fight her on Naruto's promotion.

"He fought well," Hiashi murmured, "but Inuzuka-san isn't an extremely strong fighter. Inuzuka-san had no strategy, and allowed his emotions to rule him. My youngest daughter could have defeated Inuzuka-san easily."

Tsunade nodded slightly. "Aburame-dono? Utatane-san? Mitokado-san? Your thoughts?"

Shibi tilted his head slightly, acknowledging Tsunade. "I believe that Inuzuka-san was defeated too quickly for me to give a good judgment."

"Utatane-san? Mitokado-san?"

Homura asked, "Is Uzumaki-san's elemental leaning wind? His Fūton: Daitoppa(Wind Style: Devastation or Wind Style: Great Breakthrough) jutsus seemed stronger than it should be."

Tsunade nodded. "From what I understand from Jiraiya, it seems that his chakra leans toward wind. I'm not sure if he has a secondary element." She leaned forward a bit, and smiled. "It seems that someone convinced Nara-san to go next."

Hiashi let out a snort. He muttered to himself, "Laziness and incompetence."

"Now, now, Hyuuga-dono," Tsunade chided, amused. "The Nara's are known for the strategic minds. We overlook their small faults so that Konoha can use their genius."

"Shikaku's son, however," Koharu added scornfully, "is the laziest ninja from that clan. I've never seen a Nara as lazy as him. Did you hear that Sarutobi Asuma-san only figured out that his I.Q. was over 200 because he convinced him the test was a game? Yet, if you look at his Academy grades, he just _barely_ passed the course." Koharu scoffed, "Genius or not, Nara Shikamaru is this village's _laziest_ ninja."

Tsunade smiled, and said, "Looks like he's trying to win, though." She pointed down at the arena. "It seems that Asuma has taught Nara-san how to use his trench knives."

"Is he using it with Shadow chakra?" Shibi asked curiously.

"It seems so…" Tsunade answered, leaning forward slightly.

* * *

The _clang-clang_ of steel hitting steel was starting to grate on his nerves. What as more annoying was that Shikamaru showed no openings for him to exploit. What happened to the kid that wanted to look at the clouds more than fight a battle? Naruto jumped back, and out of range from the Chuunin, threw his two kunai at him, and jammed his hands together into the Tiger seal. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu," he whispered. Five clones appeared.

* * *

Five clones stood beside Naruto.

"More shadows for me to use, Naruto!" Shikamaru shouted, his hands moving through seals. Small tendrils of black shadows spread out from own Shikamaru's faint shadow. They moved forward, catching the Naruto clones in their grip. Slowly, each of the five clones became trapped in Shikamaru's shadow.

The remaining Naruto grinned widely. "You've gotten stronger, Shika!" he shouted. "But there is a reason why the Nara's work so well with the Akimichi's—you can't move from that position unless you got rid of those clones." Naruto flashed through several seals and murmured, "Fūton: Daitoppa."

* * *

A large gust of wind crashed into Shikamaru, slamming against the arena.

Shikamaru grunted, rolled, and ran towards the blonde. The clones that Naruto had made before, and that he'd had under his control were gone. Shikamaru was glad for that, because, now, at least, it was back to one-on-one. With one hand, he pulled out a soldier pill, while, with his other hand, he slipped his fingers into the rings of several kunai. In one swift movement, he threw them all at the blonde.

* * *

Naruto dodged them, and threw several of his own. He winced when Shikamaru dodged. Quickly, he made ten shadow clones. "I didn't want to have to use this on you, Shika, but you're forcing my hand," he said. He sent them forward, and then sat for a moment. He breathed in slowly, calming himself.

* * *

Shikamaru waited until most of the clones were within reach of him before he unleashed his most hated jutsu, the Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu (Shadow Strangle Jutsu). In half a minute, six of the clones were gone. The four remaining clones held back, watching him carefully.

Then he saw Naruto.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes. The world seemed clearer as he sensed all the chakra around him—the grass below him, the sky above him, the air around him--it all was made of chakra. He was always in awe of the feeling of the chakra that surrounded him...

"What is that?" Shikamaru asked, curious.

Naruto smiled softly. "This is called Hermit Mode. It is the gift of the toads of Mount Myobokuzan to every summoner. If they are worthy, they achieve this ability—they achieve the ability to use natural chakra." Then, he smirked. "We're still fighting, Shika!" He ran forward, and was in front of the Chuunin in seconds. With his right leg, he kicked Shikamaru.

* * *

Naruto's leg aimed for his chest, but Shikamaru's arms moved on their own. They pushed the leg a little the left, while his body slid to the right, effectively dodging the attack. He rolled as Naruto continued the barrage. But the blonde was getting faster with his movements, and finally, he connected, and Shikamaru felt him slam his fist into his face. The punch hit him harder than he had expected as the ground rushed to meet him. As the world turned to comfortable black and shadow, Shikamaru thought to himself,

_How troublesome…_

* * *

Tsunade let out a breath that she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. The battle had been fast paced, which was quite unusual for the Nara.

The entire battle had been unusual for the Nara, actually. It was almost as if Nara had been…_reckless_ in the fight, as if he'd been trying to show off his skills too or at least _force_ Naruto to show off all of his skills.

Tsunade widened her eyes as she realized that could have been the Chuunin's true motive.

"It seems that Jiraiya-sama has taught Uzumaki-san more than just wind elemental chakra," Hyuuga Hiashi said, breaking her out of his thoughts.

Tsunade chuckled as she leaned on the edge of the balcony. She called down Naruto, "As before, Uzumaki-san, you have ten minutes before your next fight. Use them wisely."

"That was the famed 'Hermit Mode,' yes?" Koharu asked, her face calculating as she watched Naruto down in the arena waking Shikamaru up. Tsunade nodded. "If I remember correctly, the Sandaime told me that it took Jiraiya a long time to reach that level of power, and, even now, he cannot do it fully."

"The student has surpassed the master," Homura said, amusement coloring his voice.

"It is rumored," Shibi murmured, "that a person who can use Senjutsu is equal in strength to a Kage."

Hiashi shook his head, slightly. "The question is: can he use it wisely? Any fool can have a jutsu that can defeat, or make them equal in strength to a Kage, but if they can't use it wisely, what use is it?"

Tsunade nodded in agreement. "I'm guessing that he uses it only as a last resort. I know for certain that Jiraiya hates using Hermit Mode, but that's mostly for vain reasons. He most likely passed the same onto Naruto."

Koharu frowned. "That is true. He didn't use it in his fight against Inuzuka-san, so, either it takes a lot of chakra out of him, or he just felt that Nara-san was pushing him to pull out all the stops."

"The next fight is starting," Shibi murmured, pointing at the arena.

* * *

The wind rustled between the two fighters.

Neji watched the blonde carefully as he thought of the things that he had seen from the two previous fights.

Naruto was faster than he remembered him being two years before, and when he change into…_Hermit Mode?_...he was even _faster._ His taijutsu had a coherency to it, which meant the blonde had chosen a style of taijutsu. Not only that, but he was able to fight hand-to-hand with kunais. The only ninjutsu that Neji had seen him use beside the Kage Bunshin was a Wind Release jutsu against both Kiba and Shikamaru that seemed to destroy everything in its path.

Long-range was out of the question as he wasn't a weapons specialist. Close-range was his best shot, but Naruto could either push him back with his Wind Release jutsu, or demolish him with that Hermit Mode jutsu of his.

But that was his best bet.

He pulsed chakra towards his feet, and ran straight towards the blonde. His hands slipped into his kunai pouch, and he threw them as hard as he could, not really caring if any of them connected.

They were just a distraction.

His fingers glowed with blue chakra, and he reached to close tenketsus.

Naruto pushed his hands away, and kicked him in the gut, pushing him backwards.

Neji stumbled back, but quickly advanced, not wanting to lose his advantage. "You're within my range of divination," he said, smirking savagely. "Eight Tria—"

"Not so fast, Neji!" Naruto shouted grabbing his wrists. Before Neji could move, Naruto leapt onto his chest, and used it as a platform to jump backwards. Naruto jumped a good ten feet backwards, while Neji stumbled, and fell to the ground.

Knowing that this was Naruto's chance to use his ninjutsu, Neji rolled to the left, and pushed himself off again. He glanced at Naruto, and then, to defend himself from the coming Wind Release jutsu, used the Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin). His wind and the wind that Naruto had released made a large vortex of dust that would take several minutes to settle.

It was the perfect landscape for Neji. His Byakugan showed him Naruto standing in a defensive stance. Once again, he sent chakra to his feet and ran towards the blonde. "You lose, Naruto," he whispered. "Hakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō (Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms)." In seconds, he had closed off one hundred and twenty-eight of Naruto's three hundred and sixty-one. He stepped back, panting slightly.

Naruto stumbled backwards, grinned at him, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Dammit," he muttered. It was a clone. "Where is he?" he whispered, turning his head around quickly. The dust still hadn't settled…

"Right behind you," Neji heard the blonde whisper behind him before he felt his head connect with something hard.

* * *

Panting, Naruto looked down at the unconscious Neji. After Neji had dispelled his clone, he'd rushed towards the place. Dust had gotten all over him in the process, but it was all the better for him—he'd found Neji. It was with perfect timing, too, because the Jounin had been talking to himself, whispering to himself, "Where is he?"

Naruto whispered softly, "Right behind you," before he slammed a kunai into the side of Neji's temple.

* * *

Tsunade watched the dust settle. Naruto was the only person standing in the middle of the arena. The blonde was staring down at the (what she supposed) unconscious Jounin.

"Another win for Uzumaki-san," Shibi said. He turned to Hiashi. "Hyuuga-dono, did you see what happened while the dust settled?"

Hiashi nodded slightly. "Yes—Neji used an advanced Gentle Fist move on Uzumaki-san, but it seemed that it was only a clone. Before Neji could find Uzumaki-san, Uzumaki-san knocked him unconscious. It seems to me that Uzumaki-san was just waiting for Neji to use the Kaiten."

"He thinks fast on his feet, and he can use Senjutsu," Tsunade listed. "I believe that he would make a fine Jounin."

Koharu nodded slowly. "He seems to have a level head in battle, and he showed that he could think ahead in battle."

"It could be dangerous if he were to be lost," Homura said, shaking his head. "We should limit his movement outside of the village, and watch him carefully."

Shibi glanced at the elder shinobi. "Uzumaki-san has shown that he is quite capable of defending himself. I doubt that he will be lost to enemy shinobi anytime soon. If anything, Konoha could use someone like him. He is charismatic and strong, and he can connect with the younger generations, and make the elder ones respect his strength. Because he has no known family, he can be used to help bring up recruitment in civilians, and thus bring up our numbers once more."

"He isn't a tool," Tsunade said, scowling. "He is a person."

"He serves Konoha," Homura corrected Tsunade, "thus making him Konoha's tool—_Konoha's weapon._"

Tsunade sighed, as she rose to the edge of the balcony. "Uzumaki-san, we have seen you fight, and we congratulate you on your wins. The Council members and I shall now retire and contemplate your rank. I will summon you when we have decided. Nara-san, Inuzuka-san, and Hyuuga-san, thank you for your time. You all fought well." She turned back to the Council members. "Shall we continue this in my office?"

* * *

A/N: First I wanted to tell everyone who reads this, and everyone has reviewed one thing: Thank you! You guys are _far too nice_ to this little author. 127 reviews, and nearly 3,000 vistors to _one _story. Thank you all _so _much. You have no idea how encouraged I am when I get a review, or I check out the stats for this story. To everyone who reads this, and to everyone who reviews, you're all beyond awesome. _BEYOND_ awesome....

Now, for this chapter, you've seen a_ little_ of Naruto's strength. Now, do know that Shikamaru _isn't _stronger than Naruto, all he did was _force _Naruto to show off his skills as much as possible. Same thing with Neji. He isn't weaker or stronger than Naruto, Naruto just tricked him into _believing _that he had won. Kiba...well...Kiba and Akamaru are just there for now. I can't really recall what I was thinking when I wrote Naruto and Kiba's fight--lol.

So, tell me what you think about the chapter! Also, if I were to replace one of the chapters with an edited one, would any of lovely reviews you guys have sent me be lost? Or will they stay because they are part of chapter _ or whatever?

Thanks a bunch, see all of you in a couple of weeks!


	10. Chapter 9

I do not own Naruto...

* * *

Chapter 9 

The sounds of children's voices were what woke him from his reverie.

After leaving the hospital where he'd dropped Neji, Shikamaru, and Kiba and Akamaru off (and spent an hour catching up with them afterwards), Naruto wandered around the village waiting for the summoning to Tsunade's office. Out of habit, he guessed, he found himself standing in front of the Academy training yard. He _had _spent most of his childhood training and playing in that yard.

It was filled with children—_'most likely Second Forms_,' he thought to himself—learning how to throw kunai at a target. Their Chuunin teacher seemed to be…_Iruka!_

"YO!" Naruto shouted, waving his hand wildly. "IRUKA-SENSEI!" He jumped over the fence, and jogged over to the Chuunin. "Iruka-sensei, I haven't seen you in forever!" Iruka looked exactly as Naruto had remembered him—his hair in a ponytail, and dressed immaculately in his Chuunin uniform.

"Naruto, you've grown!" Iruka exclaimed after he'd hugged the blonde. "Look at you now! I remember when you were just a little thing, always asking me to take you out to ramen!"

Naruto laughed. "Did you think that I was going to stay a shrimp forever?"

"Yes," Iruka answered seriously, before grinning widely. He turned to the group of children staring at them like they were madmen. "Class, this is Uzumaki Naruto—he's one of my best students."

"Ohayougozaimasu, Naruto-san (a/n: good morning [id])!" the children chorused.

"Ohayougozaimasu, minasan (a/n: everyone)," Naruto answered, bowing slightly to them before he grinned mischievously. "Iruka-sensei boring you guys with enough history?"

"Naruto!" Iruka snapped, slapping him on the upside of his head. He motioned for them to continue practicing their kunai throws.

"So what are they—Second Form?" Naruto asked, watching them.

Shaking his head, Iruka answered, "No, they're Third Form."

"They're Third Form, and they're _just_ learning how to use kunai?" Naruto asked incredulously. Iruka nodded, motioning for Naruto to lower his voice. "But kunais are the most _basic _weapon of a ninja! They should be _more _than familiar with the damned things!"

"If you remember, Naruto, when you were a Third Form, you didn't know how to use a kunai properly," Iruka answered, half smiling at the memory.

"Yeah, and if you remember, sensei I skipped more classes than anybody in my class," Naruto said, seriously. "I thought, because everyone else knew how to use them that I'd simply missed the class."

"No, your class was one of those special few," Iruka answered. "If you noticed, _almost _everyone in that class had ninja parent, came from a ninja clan, or knew someone that was a ninja." Iruka paused to correct one of his students, before turning back to Naruto. "But, you have to understand, Naruto, the Academy wasn't always like this. There was a time when kunais and shuriken were introduced in the First Form and practiced _continuously_. Not only that, but, every few weeks, a new type of weapon would be introduced." Iruka shook his head. "The curriculum was changed some years after the Third Great Shinobi War by the Sandaime. He decided that, since there was peace on the continent, the Academy should teach a more peacetime-like curriculum. In reality, he didn't want any more child soldiers to be on the front lines."

Naruto looked at the children around him. They were all probably nine or ten years old. Most probably thought themselves to be the best Academy students in the village. None of them probably knew their weaknesses, none of them probably knew of quickly they could die on the front… "Then the curriculum _has _to be changed, sensei," Naruto answered savagely. "What do they know? Theory? History? That's all useless if they can't live long enough to actually put all of that theory and history to use!"

Iruka glanced at Naruto for a moment before turning back to his students. "Then do something about it. You still want to become Hokage, yes? Well, as a shinobi of the Konoha, you have the right to speak up at the People's Council. Speak up, tell them what you think."

"The People's Council?" Naruto asked, curious.

"It's a generally new concept. Any shinobi or civilian has the right to speak before then Merchant's Guild, the Clan Council, _the_ Council, and the Hokage. Everyone who is a deciding factor in the village's government is there."

Nodding slowly, Naruto asked, "When is it?"

"In three weeks," Iruka answered. He paused. "Naruto, if you _really_ want to do this, you have to be _extremely_ organized. You have to get a bill together, you're going to have to get your facts together, make a presentation before the People's Council--it's a _lot_ of work. Are you prepared to do that?"

Naruto looked at the children before him. Nine and ten year olds getting ready to serve, and quite possibly, die for Konoha—to die for their village. Many of them probably dreamed of being a hero for their village, of being ninjas of the same caliber as the Sannin, as the past Hokages…

They deserved more. They deserved the chance to live long enough to achieve _every single one _of their dreams. They deserved the chance to be more than they could imagine. _They deserved more._

Naruto turned to Iruka and answered seriously, "Yes. I'm ready."

* * *

Tsunade fiddled with the hem of her shirt. She glanced up at Homura and Koharu. They were the only ones who had opted to stay and see Naruto's reaction to his promotion. Hiashi and Shibi both had Clan matters to attend to, and thus, couldn't stay long.

It had taken a while as both Homura and Koharu wanted to restrict Naruto's movements. Tsunade saw through them. They just wanted to be sure that no other Elemental Country could take him; they wanted to control him because of his enormous potential. They saw Naruto as only a tool.

Hiashi and Shibi were a pleasant surprise. They both believed that Naruto showed the ability to lead a team. They were quite adamant on the subject, and because everything was about politics, their word weighed heavily on the Council. Hiashi and Shibi were both heads of prominent shinobi clans, and appeasing them in, what Homura and Koharu probably deemed, small things would ensure their support in the future.

The door to her office was opened slowly, and Naruto arrived, still dressed in his battle gear. He bowed his head to the Council members and to her, before respectfully standing at attention in front of her desk.

She rose.

"The Council and myself have decided, Uzumaki-san, that, because of the skill that you have shown us, you are worthy of the rank Tokubetsu Jounin." She smiled widely at him. "Congratulations, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto grinned, and his eyes lit up. He looked as if he wanted to jump for all the excitement that he kept bottled up. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," he said bowing to her. He turned to Homura and Koharu and bowed respectfully to them. "Thank you, Council members."

Homura nodded, and, in a patronizing voice, said, "Do us proud, young man. You have a lot of people watching you." The older shinobi nodded at Tsunade, and let Koharu take his arm as they walked out of the office.

As soon as they were both out, Naruto jumped high, shouting, "YATTA! I'm a Jounin!" and excitedly pumping his fists into the air.

Tsunade dropped back into her seat. "Yes, yes—congratulations, Naruto. I hope you realize the responsibilities that with this promotion."

Naruto stopped jumping around, and nodded seriously. "I understand. This means more missions—"

"_Dangerous_ missions, Naruto," Tsunade interrupted. "It also means that, when necessary, you'll be leading a team. It'll be up to you to bring back every one of your teammates _and_ accomplish the mission you've been sent on. This isn't a game."

"I understand, Kaa-san (A/N: Mother, respectful)," Naruto replied.

"Don't be such a buzz-kill, Tsunade," a voice said from the window. "The kid's just jumped from Genin to Tokubetsu Jounin—let him celebrate!"

Naruto grinned, and headed over to the window. "Ne, Tou-san (A/N: Father, respectful), don't you ever get tired of sitting outside the window?" Jiraiya was leaning against the wall, a foot or so to the left of the window, writing in a small journal. "Working on a new _Icha Icha_?"

Jiraiya rose, motioning Naruto to move away from the window so that he could jump into the office. "I'm thinking _Icha Icha Adventures,_" he answered glancing over at Tsunade.

Naruto laughed at the expression of her face. She was the picture of long-suffered agony. "It's not that bad, Kaa-san," Naruto assured her, laughing still.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "So, how's Konoha, Naruto? Has it changed much to you?"

Naruto seated himself, becoming serious. "Konoha has changed a bit, but that's not what I want to talk to you two about." Tsunade nodded for him to continue, as Jiraiya took the other empty seat. "I stopped by the Academy and saw Iruka-sensei and his new class. They're…they're so _not_ prepared for their level. I mean, they were _Third Form_ and were _just_ learning how to use a kunai! The kunai is the most _basic_ of all shinobi weapons!"

"Oh no—we've got another education revolutionary!" Jiraiya said, laughing and smacking Naruto on the back. When Naruto had rolled his eyes at the older man, Jiraiya continued without his laughter, "In all seriousness, Naruto, the standards at the Academy have gone down since after the Third Great Shinobi War. The Sandaime wanted a more peacetime-acceptable curriculum for the Academy. At the time, Konoha was under _a lot_ of scrutiny as we had proposed the truce we now have with Iwa. We weren't, and Iwa as well, allowed to succeed an x-amount of shinobi for some years as part of the truce, and we were to take on a more peacetime-like approach in the village," Jiraiya explained.

Tsunade scoffed. "Of course, Konoha followed the truce to the letter, while Iwa has been allowed to slide through. It's always been like that, but Sensei believed that we should uphold the things that we promise."

"Of course, the amount of child soldiers during the war, and after it, encouraged him that it was the right thing in the end," Jiraiya added.

Naruto shook his head, his long blonde locks dancing wildly. "Still, there should be a balance! Just because we're upholding our part of the truce with Iwa, doesn't mean that the standards of the Academy should go down!"

Jiraiya smirked. "You came out of the Academy with those standards…"

"Yes," Naruto answered, nodding. "And look how I came out—stupid, barely understood chakra, my aim was crap, my taijutsu was crap--it's a miracle that I survived my first _real_ mission! I barely understood what it meant to be a ninja!" Naruto shook his head again. "There should be a balance between peacetime and necessary skills for Genins."

Tsunade nodded, agreeing. "The Academy just _barely_ prepares those kids for the real world. They come out of their thinking that they're Kami's gift to ninja. Half of the teams that pass die in their first year, leaving, either, jaded and barely useable shinobi or nothing but memories behind."

"Well, Naruto, if you feel so strongly about it, then do something about it," Jiraiya told him, gently pushing his chair back so that it stood, wobbling slightly, on the two back legs, his own legs leaning against Tsunade's desk.

"Iruka-sensei told me that I should present before the People's Council," Naruto answered, frowning. "I'm not exactly sure how to go about doing that. How do I make a presentation to them? Where do I start? What should I _say_?"

Tsunade smiled, and leaned forward. "Well, first, you want to know how much time you have to prepare. Then, you want to get as much information as you possibly can together…"

* * *

Neji jumped from rooftop to rooftop, hurrying as he did, to get to his team's usual training spot. It had been the same place that they'd been meeting at since the beginning of their team, and sentimentality (from Gai, Lee, and Tenten, _of course_) demanded that they continue meeting there.

He hadn't told any of them that the Hokage had summoned him to fight Uzumaki, but they would be interested in knowing _that_ little nugget of information.

Lee had had been itching to fight Uzumaki for a while now, just as he had been wishing to fight the blonde since his defeat at his hands during the Chuunin Exams two years before.

He would have to inform his teammate, of course, that Uzumaki had gotten much stronger than any of them had expected; he'd have to inform Lee that Uzumaki was _different_ than he'd been nearly three years ago. Then, again, how many of them—_any _of them—were the same as they'd been when they were younger? That was the way of Fate.

She showed them the path for their lives, and, as they traveled on it, they learned the lessons that Fate wished them to learn, to take on and use forever in their lives. Of course, their lives were their own, and at any moment, they could step away from the path that Fate chose for them, and begin that _single_ possibility, the one that _no one_ thought would be possible.

_That _was more or less the path that he had chosen for his life.

It was the path that Uzumaki had chosen for his life.

He felt amusement rise up inside him as he saw Lee and Tenten some feet below him. Tenten was yelling at Lee again. He jumped down silently, and waited for them to acknowledge his presence.

* * *

Sakura wandered through the courtyard of the Hokage Mansion. After her shift had ended at the hospital, she'd headed over to Tsunade-shishou's office only find Shizune muttering angrily to herself as she went over a pile of paperwork. Shizune was kind enough to tell her that Tsunade-shishou had decided to stop work early, and had told most of the secretaries there to take the day off as well before she'd headed to the Hokage Mansion with Jiraiya-sama and Naruto in tow.

It wasn't a rare occurrence to see the Hokage leave the Tower early, and order everyone else to do the same. _Everyone_ in the village knew that that her master _hated_ long evenings in the office. Occasionally—or rather, when _necessary_—Tsunade-shishou would stay into the early morning hours to finish work, but, if it was possible, then she'd leave as _early _as Shizune would let her.

Like today.

Sakura couldn't think of any reason other than Naruto's homecoming for Tsunade-shishou's early day. _Sure_,according to Shizune she left only two hours before the normal end of office hours, but the Chuunin Exams would be taking place soon! It was the first Exam since the Sand-Sound Invasion two years ago!

Unless it was an _extremely_ sensitive mission, _no one_ was leaving the village. Jounins and their Genin teams were training hard, every available Chuunin (the ones who weren't guarding the village walls or other important village buildings) were hard at work with the exams or teaching at the Academy. Only the ANBU were still doing regular duties (missions, and guarding the Hokage and all the other super-secret stuff that ANBU did).

Tsunade-shishou should be putting all available effort into securing the village, and making sure _everything_ went smoothly.

"But is that a _real_ standard? NO!"

Sakura frowned, and hurried into the main building when she heard Tsunade-shishou shouting.

"The _most_ the little brats will be having at the Academy is a bloody fist or a broken nose! They don't _need_ that type of training!"

Now_ that_ was Jiraiya-sama! Sakura sprinted down the hallways heading towards the office that Tsunade-shishou had in the Mansion.

"You _see—_he agrees with me!"

"Only because he's _afraid_ of what you might do!"

"I only apply _that_ to idiots like _you!_"

Sakura burst into the office to find Tsunade-shishou and Jiraiya-sama arguing in front the oak desk in the office. Naruto was writing carefully on a chalkboard, surrounded by papers and numerous files.

"I _object_ to be called an idiot! I prefer super pervert!" Jiraiya-sama shouted, slightly pouting.

Naruto chuckled softly. "'ello Sakura-chan," he said, waving his hand slightly. She nodded, acknowledging him while staring wide-eyed at the _still_ arguing Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-shishou. "They've been at it for a while, so don't bother. They aren't _really_ paying much attention." He smiled brightly. "How was work at the hospital? Anything interesting besides Neji, Shika', and Kiba going in?"

"What is all this?" she asked waving her hand at the mess. "What are you doing? Shishou should be working for the Chuunin Exam!"

Naruto smile grew into a wide grin. "I'm going to present a proposal to the People's Council!"

"Why?" Sakura asked, curious.

"You've been arguing for _that_ for years!" Jiraiya sneered.

Tsunade threw a fist, and shook it threateningly at them. "Because nobody changes _anything_! If we get them in the Academy, it'll be all the better!"

Naruto shouted, "The curriculum at the Academy is _horrible_! Those kids are going to end up dying in the field!"

"_We _learned from that same curriculum."

"I'm getting _so_ tired of that excuse. Just because _we_ learned from that curriculum doesn't excuse the fact that _half _of the teams that graduate from the Academy _never _survive their first year because of inadequate training they received at the Academy."

"And you want to do…_what_ exactly?"

"I want to help, and the only way to do that is have the Council change the Academy curriculum into something that will actually _help_ the students. _Hopefully, _that'll make more Genins who'll survive _much_ longer than the usual percentage."

Sakura frowned. "And you think that letting them become child soldiers is going to help?"

"The idea is to have a balance between peacetime curriculum and practicality," Jiraiya answered before Naruto could. Tsunade was settling back into the seat behind the desk. "If we can train them to be better than they are now, and still let them keep their innocence—their _childhood_—then the Academy's _current_ goals will be surpassed."

Sakura glanced around the room. She bit her lower lip, before she asked, "How can I help?"

"Thanks Sakura-chan," Naruto said, smiling widely, before widening his eyes. "Oh, I forgot to tell you--I'm a Tokubetsu Jounin!"

* * *

A/N: So, I decided to put this up early because this my birthday gift to all of you. Yesterday was seventeenth birthday (nooo, i'm so old!!!!! next thing you know i'll be getting grey hairs!!!!!), and, while it is traditional for people to recieve gifts on their birthday, I'm sure the gift of your reviews will suffice.

Another note, I have to say this because I have gotten a jillion and one reviews on this. Naruto knows that Jiraiya and Tsunade are his parents--they've already told him as you can see from this chapter. The scene in which this happens will be coming up soon, so be patient. If I recall correctly, it's in the next chapter. I'm not too sure since I'm writing a few chapters ahead of this one...Please, no more outraged questions and shouts about how unfair it is that Jiraiya and Tsunade haven't told him the big secret--he already knows.

Also, I've been getting a few reviews on what the pairing for this story is. I'm going to say as much as possible without spoiling the story. Naruto still has feelings for Sakura; she was his first crush (that we know of in canon) and as I'm sure many of you will agree, it takes a lot more than just three years to get over her. Now, some of you will say, "No! Sakura's treated him horribly!" STOP THAT! You're taking up the Naruto-fanfiction view of Sakura. If any of you have been reading/watching the Shippuden chapters/episodes you'll see that Sakura treats Naruto like she treats Sai or Neji or whatever! Before Shippuden and the Chuunin Exam Arc she treated him EXACTLY the same as most girls treat boys they don't really care much about.

Now, I'm sure a lot of you girls out there will disagree, and maybe you're right, but growing up, I treated my guy cousins and a lot of my guy-friends in the same exact manner. We're all older now (no, seventeen...T-T) and we treat each other nicer (read: no insults in public becuase they're frowned upon, though the smacking/punching has stopped).

But, back to my main point, Naruto kept his crush of Sakura and still holds it close to him. Sakura, of course, doesn't know that because Naruto never gives her any reason to suspect anything else. If anything happens between them--and I'm not saying it will--it will most likely be interesting.

Thanks for reading, I hope you like that chapter, and see you next time!!!

Don't forget to review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	11. Chapter 10

I don't own Naruto. Boo-hoo for me.

* * *

Chapter 10

"Are you ready?" Tsunade asked leaning against the doorframe to Naruto's bedroom. She smiled as she watched him struggle with his bandages.

The teenage blonde looked up to her, stopping what he was doing. "You know, I've faced a Sand Demon, Orochimaru's right hand man, and even my own best friend trying to kill me, and I've never been nervous. I've never felt afraid or worried. Right now, though…my hands are trembling, and it's kind of annoying since I'm trying to wrap this damn thing around my arms." He smiled crookedly. "Will you please help me?"

She came in and sat opposite of him on the edge of his bed. She took the bandage that he was trying to wrap from his slightly shaking hands, and, with practiced hands, began to wrap it from his wrists upwards.

Naruto smiled. "Thank you," he murmured.

"Don't bother," Tsunade answered. "I'm your mother. I'm _supposed_ to help—or so I'm told." She gave him a crooked grin as she pinned the bandage into place. "D'you want me to do the other one too?"

"Would you please?" he asked sheepishly, handing her the other bandage.

She rolled her eyes and began to work.

"To think I almost missed out on all of this," Naruto whispered softly.

"To think I was so stupid as to leave you here to miss out on so much of this," Tsunade answered.

"Don't start that again," Naruto said, sighing. "You didn't know. No one did."

Tsunade paused. "Still…even it hadn't been you, Hikaru…what kind of mother does that? What kind of person?"

"You were in mourning, Hahaoya (A/N: Mother, mom). No one can blame you; _I_ certainly don't. I would think, you know, since I _am_ the lost child, my opinion would matter most. So stop blaming yourself." Naruto smiled softly.

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "You've certainly got your father's charm, Hikaru-chan." She began wrapped the bandages around his wrist and up his forearm.

Naruto snorted. "And I've got your sense of patriotism, and your temper. I've got Chichiue's strength, humor, and chakra control—which really isn't anything."

"And all of that together make the great Senju Uzumaki Hikaru Naruto," Tsunade finished, smiling. "Congratulations, you are series of pieces of your father and myself." She pinned the bandage into place. "There. You're all done."

Naruto grinned. "Thank you, Hahaoya."

* * *

Sakura took a final glance at herself in the mirror before she left. She was dressed in her usual red top, light pink elbow protectors, black shorts, and knee-high sandals. With a nod to herself, she ran down the stairs of her house, called out to her mother, "I'll be home late tonight, Kaa-chan, see you!" and headed towards the civilian marketplace. As she ran, she ignored the head-bows that she received as she did, and glared at every man who _dared _to leer pervertedly at her. She slowed as she reached the civilian tailor on one of the main streets of the marketplace and entered.

"Ah, Haruno-san! I've been expecting you!" a young man at the counter called to her. To a boy of about twelve or thirteen he ordered, "Go get the package in the back for Haruno-san." He smiled widely at Sakura. "So, Haruno-san," he drawled leaning on the counter. "Who's the lucky boy?

"None of your business, Hideyoshi-san," Sakura answered smartly. "How's business going?"

"It would be better if I wasn't so distracted," Hideyoshi replied, sighing dramatically.

Sakura rolled her eyes. The boy returned holding a brown-paper wrapped package and handed it to him. "How much do I owe you, Hideyoshi-san?" she asked, pulling out her wallet.

Hideyoshi shook his head. "Nothing for this one, Haruno-san. It was my pleasure to make the coat. Whoever the lucky boy is, he will look quite like our Yondaime-sama in this jacket. Perhaps it will bring some more work to my little shop."

Sakura thanked Hideyoshi, passed the boy some candy, and left the shop. If she went by the rooftops, she might make it to Naruto's room at the Mansion before he left…Sakura took off as quickly as she could.

Behind her, two old women sighed. "Girls today," one of them said. "They're always in a rush."

The other nodded. "Yes…_especially_ the ninja ones." She shook her head. "It's not right. Not lady-like_ at all._"

"At _all_," the first one agreed.

* * *

Naruto rose from the bed and reached for his breastplate. Before he picked it up, he paused and asked, "Should I wear the breastplate or the vest? I mean, Sakura-chan told me the breastplate makes me look intimidating—in a good way, of course—but she also said the vest makes me look mature. What do you think?"

"Depends on what you want to be," Tsunade answered. "Do you _want_ to be intimidating—in a good way—or do you want to be mature? Personally, I like how the breastplate looks on you. You remind of me of your great-grandfather in it."

Naruto flashed a smile at her and grabbed the breastplate. "Do you think I'm ready for this? That I've prepared enough, I mean."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Naruto, you're more than prepared for this. You've practiced your speech over a thousand times; you've got that Academy kid ready—you'll do fine. Trust me. _Believe_ in yourself; that's what you used to shout around when you were a little brat, right?"

Naruto laughed loudly as he finished tying the last strap of his breastplate. He bit his lower lip nervously for a moment. "Both you and Chichiue will be there right?"

"I _have_ to be there, being the Hokage and all," Tsunade drawled. She flashed a crooked smile at him when he rolled his eyes. "Jiraiya said he'd be in the audience stand if he can find room, but don't count on it as it'll most likely be filled with civilians."

Naruto nodded his slowly, chewing on his lower lip again. "Alright…I can do this. I _can _do this." He turned to Tsunade grinning widely. "I'm ready."

Tsunade gave him an exasperated smile as she pushed herself off the bed. "Good, because it's time for me to go to work," she said. She put a hand on each shoulder and said softly, "You look handsome, Hikaru, and you've made both your father and me _extremely _proud. No matter what the results, don't forget how proud we are of you." She kissed him gently on forehead.

Naruto blushed. "Bah, Hahaoya," he said. "You've _got_ to stop doing that! I'm _fifteen!_"

Tsunade ruffled his hair, laughing. "Yes, but I missed out on twelve years to do that, so I get to embarrass you as much as possible, _whenever_ possible. Poor little Hika-chan!"

"Not that again!" Naruto protested indignantly. "I put my foot down at Hika-chan!"

* * *

Sakura ran faster when she heard the sounds of yells coming from Naruto's room. She was _just_ on time then! Naruto was most likely fighting with Jiraiya-sama or Tsunade-shishou!

* * *

"That's _too bad. _You're stuck with being called Hika-chan till you're _at least_ thirty!" Tsunade crowed, pulling him into a stifling hug.

"Hahaoya!" Naruto shouted, flailing his arms.

Tsunade laughed and kissed him once more before letting him go. She frowned when she saw the flash of something pink by the door. She turned to the door and froze. Standing there, hugging a brown-paper package was Sakura.

"Um…am I too late for the party?" Sakura asked. Her green eyes were wide.

"How long were you standing there?" Naruto croaked.

"Long enough to hear you call her mother," she replied. Sakura licked her lips. "What in Kami's name is going on, Naruto?"

"Nothing," he answered quickly.

Sakura stepped closer towards him, ignoring Tsunade for a moment. "Don't lie."

Tsunade reached over and placed a hand the girl's shoulder. "Sakura—"

Sakura shook the hand off, and glared at the older woman. "I was talking to Naruto, _Hokage-sama._"

Tsunade paused for a moment, and nodded. "Alright then. I will take my leave," she answered, speaking slowly. "Naruto, don't forget—you have to be outside the meeting room at a quarter to ten. I'll see you then."

Naruto watched her leave with worried eyes. He couldn't help but feel a little twinge of abandonment as he did grow inside him, but he quickly quelled that feeling. His mother wasn't abandoning him. He was with Sakura. There was absolutely nothing wrong.

"Well, Naruto?" Sakura asked again, her face getting more irritated than angry. "Why are you calling her mother now? I thought you called an old woman most of the time."

Naruto bit his lip before straightening up. "It was just a spur of the moment thing. I just…called her mother."

"Yeah," Sakura answered sarcastically. "You just called her mother when you've usually just called her grandmother and she just takes like it wasn't the first time that she's heard it. That's all. Nothing to think about." She glared angrily.

"Sakura, please," Naruto pleaded softly. "Don't…don't do that. Don't be mad."

"How can I not be mad when my _best friend_ is lying to me!" Sakura snapped, stamping her foot. "Or are we best friends, Naruto? Was it just me, have I gone crazy?"

"No! Of course, we're best friends!"

"_Then tell me the truth!"_

"But…"

"If you don't tell me _right_ now, Naruto…I'll leave. I won't talk to you for…for…for _a very long time!_"

"Sakura!"

"Don't you 'Sakura!' me. If you won't tell me the truth, then why are we friends? Friends _talk to each other!_ Friends _share with each other!_"

"But there's nothing to share!"

"Then how come you called her mother? Why are you still living here? Why did Tsunade-shishou visit you and Jiraiya-sama once a month? _Well_? If you're not going to say anything, I'm leaving."

Naruto sighed, and sat down on the edge of his bed. "I call her mother because…because she _is_ my mother."

Sakura dropped onto the bed next to him. "What?"

"You heard me. She's my mother, and Jiraiya is my father," Naruto answered, a little amused and more than a little relieved that she wasn't so mad.

"Are you lying to me?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

Naruto shook his head. "I could never lie to you. You know that."

Sakura licked her lips, before saying, "Tell it to me from the beginning. You're…I don't…I don't get it. I thought you were an _orphan._"

Naruto smiled softly, fiddling with the edge of one of his red belts. "That's what I thought."

_Flashback_

"_Now Naruto," Ero-Sennin said as he put his cup of sake down on the low wooden table, "Tsunade-hime and I have something _very_ important to say to you."_

_Naruto nodded, putting a serious face on. He'd been on Mt. Myobokuzan for a few days already, and met with Old Toad Fukusaku and his wife Old Lady Shima. _

"_Do you want to start, Hime?" Jiraiya asked hopefully. When Tsunade gave him a blank stare, he nodded sheepishly and began. "Now, years and years ago, back when I was a devilishly handsome young man and Tsunade was nothing more than an ugly—"_

"_JIRAIYA!" Tsunade-baa-chan shouted, punching him. Sighing, she muttered to herself for a second, before speaking gently to Naruto. "Naruto, did the Sandaime ever say anything to you about your parents? Who they were, maybe?_

_Naruto squinted his eyes, and cocked his head to the side for a second, confused with the way this conversation was going. "Old Man Hokage said that they were very brave people who died during the Kyuubi attack. He said they were both ninjas."_

_Tsunade nodded slowly. "Alright, then…Well, sometime after Orochimaru betrayed Konoha, and I had lost both my little brother and my fiancée to the Shinobi War, I had left the village with Shizune. The Sandaime sent Jiraiya after me, much like how the Council sent you and Jiraiya for me months ago."_

"_Has Kakashi or Iruka told you about the birds and the bees?" Jiraiya interrupted, rubbing his cheek. _

_Naruto blushed bright red. "Iruka-sensei told me and a bunch of other boys at the Academy."_

"_Good," Jiraiya answered. "Now, when I found Tsunade, I have to say, we both drank more than we should have, and one thing led to another—"_

"_Let's just say that it will never happen again," Tsunade snapped. _

_Naruto watched them talk with eyes as round as bowls and cheeks as red as cherries._

"_In the usual way of things, I got pregnant and decided to keep the baby," Tsunade continued. "I had decided to name the baby Hikaru."_

"_I was…I was so _excited_ to have a child," Jiraiya said, wonder tinting his voice. "I couldn't wait for the day for it to be born. And, to add to my joy, the Yondaime and his girlfriend were also expecting. Because I had trained the Yondaime as a Genin, we had remained close, and he'd introduced me to his girlfriend—a woman by the name of Kushina."_

"_Kushina and I both delivered our babies on the same date—October 31." Tsunade clenched her fists._

_A touch of understand filtered into Naruto's face. "That's the…"_

"_Yes," Jiraiya answered. "The day the Kyuubi attacked the village, and the day you were born."_

_In a strained voice, Tsunade continued, "The hospital records state that Kushina, or _Uzumaki _Kushina delivered a healthy baby boy. The hospital records also state that I too delivered a baby boy, only…my baby died minutes after being born because it was too weak."_

"_Wait," Naruto interrupted. "Did you say…Uzumaki?" When Tsunade nodded, he jumped up from his seated position, a smile growing on his face. "So, so—the Yondaime is my father!" He began hopping from foot to foot grinning widely. "The Yondaime's my father! The Yondaime's my father!" Suddenly, he stopped celebrating. "The Yondaime's my father…and he sealed…the Kyuubi into…_me_."_

_Jiraiya shook his head. "Finish listening to the story, Naruto. _That _is what the hospital records state. It does not mention the Yondaime in any way. It also doesn't mention that both baby boys were born within minutes of each other."_

_Tsunade, her knuckles turning white, said in a distant voice, "The Yondaime came in and asked for his son. One of the doctors asked him why. When he had informed him of his plan to defeat the Kyuubi, the doctor brought him a blue-eyed blonde baby boy. He told him that this was his child."_

"_The doctor lied, of course," Jiraiya interrupted. "The Yondaime's son was dead, as was his girlfriend, Uzumaki Kushina."_

_Naruto, downcast, slumped back into his seat. "Then…who are my parents? Why are you telling me this?"_

"_Finish listening to the story," Jiraiya answered, smiling wryly. "The baby that the doctor had taken was actually…Tsunade's baby."_

"_What?" Naruto whispered._

_Tsunade took over. "I had been told that my baby was dead. Jiraiya was at the front with the other ninjas fighting to hold the Kyuubi back. I convinced Shizune to get me out of the village. I had no ties left."_

"_Afterwards, I was told by a nurse from the hospital that Hikaru was dead and Tsunade was gone. I left a few days later," Jiraiya said softly. "I wouldn't have met you had the Sandaime not told me that you would be an interesting person to meet. Even then, I never saw Tsunade in you…not like I do now."_

"_So…you two…are my _parents?_" Naruto whispered, his fists tightening. _

"_Yes," Tsunade replied while Jiraiya nodded sharply._

"_And you didn't even stop to check that your baby was dead or not?" Naruto accused, his voice rising with every syllable. "You didn't stop to_ think_ that _maybe_ someone didn't want you to have me because of the damn fox? You just _left me!_"_

_Tsunade whispered, her eyes blurring. "Yes." _

"_And what you expect for me to do, huh? Jump for joy for you?" Naruto snarled. "You _abandoned _me! At least with the Yondaime, I could have thought that he died for the village—that he died for _me!_ But _no!YOU LEFT ME! YOU ABANDONED ME TO THAT VILLAGE TO BE ALONE EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE!_ Do you understand what that means? What it felt like to see _everybody_ else go home to their families? To never have a friend—even just _one friend_—to call my own? To have no one but the fucking Hokage to care about whether I lived or died? Do you have any idea what it feels like to be absolutely and totally alone?" _

_Naruto now stood in front of the two elder shinobi. His usually blue eyes flashed red every few seconds, and the whisker-like markings on his cheeks were darker._

"_Yes. We left you," Jiraiya answered, jutting his chin out. "But it's not like we knew you were alive. You can't blame us for something that we never knew about, for a mistake that wasn't our own."_

"_And how long have you known that I was your son, then?" Naruto snarled. "HOW LONG?!"_

"_A few days after you returned from your retrieval mission," Jiraiya answered. "An apprentice at the hospital found out by accident. He told the doctor in charge of you, who in turn, told Tsunade and myself."_

"_That's nearly a month, then!" Naruto accused, his pupils growing longer and thinner._

"_We decided that it would be best to tell you in a secure place," Tsunade murmured. "As I'm sure you understand we both have our share of enemies who would be more than happy to kill you just to hurt us."_

"_That wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't fucking left me to rot in this village!"_

_Tsunade stood up suddenly, walked around the table stopped in front of the blonde boy. "I know you're hurting; you'd have to be blind to miss that because it is written all over your face—you're like Jiraiya in that respect—but you have to understand that you aren't the only one hurting. _I _left _you. _What kind of mother does that, right? A grieving mother does, though. One who is more than familiar with grief and her luck in Konoha with it. You have _no _idea how much I thought about you, how many times I imagined how you would look, what you would say…But you're here now, and I am too. Don't let those fools who took you away from me come between that." Tears streamed down her eyes, but Tsunade made no motion to stop them. She reached forward and placed her hand, tentatively, on his cheek. "You once told me that no one but the Sandaime deigned to touch you…I would like you to know that from now, I won't hold myself back from embarrassing you as much as possible with as many mother-like affections, because they took that away from you—from _us._" She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly._

_He was stiff in her arms refusing to move, but slowly he sagged and began to cry as well. She hugged him all the tighter whispering apologies to him. She noticed Jiraiya come around the table, and place a heavy hand on both of their shoulders, but chose not to say anything to him. She wanted to savor this moment._

_Her son was returned to her._

_She had her Hikaru once again…_

_Flashback End_

"Wow," Sakura whispered when he finished. "Just…_wow._"

Naruto snorted. "Yeah."

"Does it…does it bother you?" she asked him.

"Does what bother me?" Naruto asked in return.

"Not knowing for so long and then finding out the way you did, the Kyuubi…everything," Sakura replied, shaking her head in wonder.

"I found out about the Kyuubi before—its how I ended up becoming a Genin, which is another very long story that can wait for another time. Finding out that they were my parents was…stressful. I didn't talk to Jiraiya for while. I mean…I _trusted_ Jiraiya. He was my master and he didn't tell me? He didn't even prepare me for what was to come. All he said was, 'We have something very important to tell you.'" Naruto shook his head. "It hurt, but eventually…the Toads at Mount Myobokuzan helped me. They made me see it through Jiraiya's eyes—through Tsunade's…" He smiled at Sakura. "It's better now, at least. And…at least, now, I have them. Better late than never, right? And I had them my entire life, I wouldn't be the person I am now. I probably wouldn't want to be Hokage as Tsunade's slightly prejudiced against it. There's even I chance that I wouldn't have known your or any of the other Rookies…" Naruto chuckled to himself before pushing himself of the bed. "Well, I've told you the story, just like you've asked. Now, I've got to get going or I'm going to be late."

Sakura glanced at the only clock in the room. It was a small thing with the minute and hour hands painted red. The interesting and Naruto-ish thing about it was that it was shaped like a frog and was painted a blinding orange color. It showed that it was already nine thirty.

She rose to follow him before she noticed she was still holding the package she had picked up from the tailor's. "Oh, I got you something!" she said, smiling brightly. She thrust the package into his unsuspecting hands.

Naruto looked at her curiously for a moment before shaking his head in wonder. "Girls," he muttered softly to himself, suppressing a grin. He quickly ripped the paper away and pulled out the item inside it. It was a long coat much like the one that the Yondaime used to wear, except instead of being white with red-orange flames, it was orange with grey-black flames.

"I hope you still like the Yondaime," Sakura said, slightly nervous. "I mean, I remember you once telling me that he was your favorite Hokage because he gave his life to save the village and all…"

"Yeah, I still like the Yondaime," Naruto said, grinning. He quickly slipped the jacket onto himself. Straightening, he looked at her, beaming. "How do I look?"

"Wonderful," Sakura answered, clapping her hands a little. "Just like the Yondaime. Now, hurry up. You don't want to be late."

* * *

A/N: Well, it's been two weeks...I think. And a busy two weeks they've been. Here's your new update, tell me what you think--and to all you U.S. citizens out there, Happy Independence Day!


	12. Interlude: Red

I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Interlude: Red

He breathed in the cool night air. The sands shifted in the wind, dancing before him, behind him, above him...Some type of invisible shield protected him from the sands.

He looked down at the village before him. His people lay sleeping in their homes before him.

He always wondered what it felt like to simply lay down and drift away, to _dream_, to know what it felt like to have that deep sleep that everyone enjoyed and awoke fully rested from. Instead, he was forced to live with heavy eyes, the occasional blurred vision...Thankfully, the Shukaku saved him from the worst of his insomnia, but it was still part of his fate to forever endure the occasional symptoms of insomnia.

He shouldered the burden silently. They were part of the trials that he had to endure as Jinchuuriki. He held the weakest of all bijuu, but the Shukaku was the only bijuu that caused severe physical…side effects?...to its host. The one-tailed tanuki was definitely the most bloodthirsty of the nine tailed beast, probably _because_ he had only one tail, and thus, was more in touch with his demonic side when compared to the Nibi or even the Kyuubi.

Even now, the Shukaku whispered in his mind to destroy the village, to bathe in the blood of the innocents. When he'd been younger, and had a weaker will, he would have readily given in to "Mother." Now, he knew better. He knew that his mother was Yashamaru's sister. He knew that she was Temari and Kankuro's step-mother. He knew that his father, the previous Kazekage, used her to create him. He knew that, as he'd been born, she'd cursed the village, his father, and her unborn child.

Now, he could, more or less, ignore the Shukaku. The tanuki's words did not urge him as they once did to take the blood of innocents. They did not move him to action as they once did.

And he had Uzumaki Naruto to thank for that.

He had Uzumaki to thank for the peace that he now enjoyed. He had Uzumaki to thank for his new-found life, for his siblings and his new respect for them, for his village and his new-found love for it.

He'd never loved Suna, not in the way that he loved it now. He knew every nook and cranny, he knew every inhabitant, and could easily walk down the street without feeling the anger or hatred of his villagers.

Sometimes, he would sit and wonder what it was that they saw in him. Years ago, it would have taken very little for them to run away from the very sight of him.

Now, they cheered.

They grinned and said that he was a wonderful Kazekage. They asked him to bless their children. There were still a few that feared him, but it was more that they feared the power that he wielded. They did not fear his person. And it was all thanks to the one person who understood his pain, his burden. It was thanks to person who knew what it felt like to be absolutely alone, to be feared and hated by one's village and family.

Uzumaki Naruto.

Because of Uzumaki, he now lived for _more _than the chance to spill blood. It was thanks to Uzumaki that he now had the chance to live for his village, for the civilians that lived and laughed and loved in between the walls of his village, for the shinobi that trained and died for the honor of protecting Sunagakure. He thanked whatever god there was for it. He lived for something more; he was part of something greater than himself. All thanks to Uzumaki Naruto.

He remembered the day that he'd been asked to take up the torch, and become the next Kazekage. It had been six months after the Invasion, and he'd been nearing his fourteenth birthday. They'd told him that he was, currently, the strongest ninja in the entire village. They said that, as a son of a Kazekage, it was his right to ascend to the seat of power, if he would so choose. They would not hold him back, or fight him.

At first, he had been wary, but then he remembered what Uzumaki Naruto had said. The blonde shinobi had said that would become Konohagakure's greatest Hokage so that they would respect him—acknowledge him. He'd thought at the time, that to become like that blonde boy who lived so willingly for his village, he, too, would have to become the Kage of his village.

Immediately, afterwards, he accepted, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Gaara glanced upwards, towards the desert. The sands danced around him, they whispered to him of the coming danger, and he readied himself for it.

He was _more _than ready for any danger because this was his moment to become the greatest Kazekage Sunagakure had ever seen.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this chapters a couple days late, and that it's so small...um...yeah, that's basically it for today or tonight or whatever time frame you guys are in as you read this. For me, it's a quarter to one in the morning of Monday, July 13th, 2009. Far past my bedtime, lol...

Thank God for the summer, and for summer breaks. Enjoy your youth while you can, my dear readers, because it doesn't last. Isn't that sad?

...don't forget to review.


	13. not a chapter

Unfortunately, there will be no chapter this week, or one for…a while. I've been _extremely_ busy lately with other things and have not written _anything_ _at all._ The last chapter (Interlude: Red) was the last of my pre-written chapters, and I wrote _that_ a few days before I posted it. So…Son of the Sannin is going on _tiny _sabbatical/hiatus. Probably till mid-August or something; I don't know.

Until then, all my love to each and every one of you. You have no idea how much you guys have been encouraging me to write more than I would ever have thought to. Enjoy your summer weeks with your family, your friends—_your pets_—and I'll see you guys…when I see you.


End file.
